BOOK REVIEW: Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield

A dark midwinter's night. The Swan, an ancient inn on the banks of 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 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?
And who exactly is the little girl? As news spreads of the child who drowned and lived again, three families come to claim her, and the stories of three lost girls (and a missing pig) come to light.
In the background is the river itself: powerful, unknowable, life-giving and life-taking. There is talk of a ferryman who appears to those who get into trouble on the river... But at The Swan Inn, is anything ever just a story?
The long-anticipated return of a masterful storyteller, Once Upon a River is replete with folklore, myth, fairy tale, suspense and romance, as  well as the urgent scientific curiosity of the Darwinian age. It is as richly atmospheric and spellbinding as Diane Setterfield's best seller The Thirteenth Tale.

Publisher: Doubleday

Pages: 420

In my opinion Diane Setterfield is a masterful storyteller. Her first novel The Thirteenth Tale is a book I still recommend more than six years on and her second book Bellman and Black demonstrated again, her beautiful way with words. I was so excited when I found out that she had written a new book but also a little nervous which I think is often the way as you want it to be as good as her previous work. I needn't have worried, Once Upon a River is fantastic. I have enjoyed taking my time with it and I know that it will be a book that I will visit again in the future.
The book is set firmly on the River Thames, there is not a year stated within
the book but it has a decidedly gothic feel. On a midwinter's night the regulars at The Swan Inn are interrupted in their drinking and storytelling by an injured man bursting through the door carrying the body of a dead child. Hours later, while the man is being tended to, the dead girl wakes up. People cannot believe their eyes, she was dead and now she is wide awake but still not speaking. As the witnesses at the inn begin to tell their story, the news spreads and there are three different families that come forward to claim her as their own. But the child remains mute, so how will they know who she belongs to?
Diane Setterfield has such a way with words. I re-read so many passages in this book as I loved how the words had been put together. Setterfield almost gives everything a slightly mythical glow, it all feels very magical which raises the book to another level. The girl found in the river is steeped in mystery from the very beginning and she seems as though from a different world:

Her skin shimmered like water. The folds of her cotton frock were plastered to the smooth lines of the limbs, and her head tilted on her neck at an angle no puppeteer could achieve. She was a little girl, and they had not seen it, not one of them, though it was obvious. What maker would go to such lengths, making a doll of such perfection, only to dress in the cotton smock any pauper's daughter might wear?

There's a fair few characters in this story and I did feel a little overwhelmed at the beginning but once I had a handle on it, I really enjoyed learning their different stories and working out how they were all connected.
Storytelling is a huge theme within the book, Setterfield shows its many forms plus the power it can yield. People visit The Swan to be entertained by stories even before the appearance of the girl. The author shows how storytelling is a true art that has to be practised and perfected. The event with the girl is a gift in many ways, it draws visitors to the inn and has an affect on people's income. This story spreads, effecting people from miles away, the story travels along the Thames, attracting the good and the bad.
Once Upon a River is also about ownership. Who owns the girl? Who owns the story? Who owns the river?

Why they have been arguing it for a dozen years and they have at least a dozen years of arguments to go! What is a river? It is water. And what is water? Essentially it is rain. And what is rain? Why, weather! And who owns the weather? 

The role of women is also explored, they are almost something to use as a bargaining tool. Three families come forward for the girl and they each have a different reason for wanting to take ownership. Female roles within this book vary but the majority are strong and determined, no matter how they are affected by the men in their lives. I was so interested by the way in which Setterfield showed many of the female characters having to keep secrets. They are almost having to hide their strength so as not to intimidate or be deemed inappropriate. The only character who is honest and open is Rita, the nurse who discovers that the girl is alive. She strikes up a closeness to the man who was injured, she does not hold back about women and what they endure:

You will make a good father one day. They won't tell you about the blood. You'll be sent away, out of sight, out of hearing. By the time you are allowed back, they'll have cleared it all away. Your wife will look pale and you'll think it's because she's tired. You won't know her blood is being wrung out of the sheets and into your drains. The housekeeper will scrub away at the stains on your bed sheets till they look as innocuous as if someone spilt a cup of breakfast tea in bed about five years ago. There'll be cloves and orange peel in the room so you won't notice the smell of iron. If there's a doctor, he might advise you man to man, not to attempt marital intimacy for a time but he won't go into detail. So you won't know about the tears and the stitches . Your wife will know. If she survives. But she won't tell you.

Once Upon a River has been well worth the wait. Diane Setterfield weaves her story in such a masterful and accomplished manner. It is a book to savour and enjoy. I can highly recommend it.