I apologize that I’ve been inactive lately. There has been a lot going on in my life, and I just wasn’t in the mood to read even when I had the chance. Hopefully, I’ll be back on track from here on out!
Book Blurb:
“A dark midwinter’s night in an ancient inn on the Thames. The regulars are entertaining themselves by telling stories when the door bursts open on an injured stranger. In his arms is the drowned corpse of a little child.
Hours later the dead girl stirs, takes a breath and returns to life.
Is it a miracle?
Is it magic?
Or can it be explained by science?
Replete with folklore, suspense and romance, as well as with the urgent scientific curiosity of the Darwinian age, Once Upon a River is as richly atmospheric as Setterfield’s bestseller The Thirteenth Tale.”
My Thoughts:
I had actually received an ARC of this from Netgalley and the publisher before it was published but just didn’t get to it in time. I’m actually glad because I ended up listening to the audiobook version narrated by Juliet Stevenson, who was marvelous. She has the perfect voice for narrating this atmospheric book, and her delivery pulled me into the book.
The book begins on the eve of the winter solstice in The Swan, an inn located next to the river. The folks in this town are big storytellers, and they are in the middle of their storytelling when an injured man enters the inn carrying a child. Rita, the nurse, examines the two and determines that the child is dead. There are already questions about what happened to the little girl when much later she magically returns to life, creating even more questions. The mystery continues because there end up being three sets of individuals who all think she is the child they have lost.
If you like atmospheric, adult fairy tales, you will like this book. The characters are interesting, and the river even plays a character in this book. The book is lyrically written, and it is not a fast-paced book. Sometimes I felt like it was repetitive with the re-telling of the child coming back to life, making me think the book could have been much shorter without losing the mystery and magical feeling which is part of the charm of the book. You do learn by the end of the book what actually happened, providing an excellent resolution.
If you do pick up this book, I recommend listening to the audiobook if you can and block out chunks of time. This is one that is better read/heard in longer stretches rather than spurts here and there.
My Rating: 4 Stars
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