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Once Upon a River cover art

Once Upon a River

By: Diane Setterfield
Narrated by: Juliet Stevenson
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Summary

Random House presents the audiobook edition of Once Upon a River, written by Diane Setterfield and read by Juliet Stevenson.

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?

An exquisitely crafted multi-layered mystery brimming 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.

©2019 Diane Setterfield (P)2019 Penguin Audio

What listeners say about Once Upon a River

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Delightful!

I stumbled onto this book by accident. I was getting tired of books being recommended for me based on my listening history, so I went rouge, searching through books I never usually seek out and saw this. The great reviews convinced me to try it and....
What a delight! The story was so well crafted, so unusual and magical that the book i had hoped would keep me occupied for a week or so, was devoured in two days between work and real life!

Juliet Stevenson was superb. The perfect storyteller.

My only sadness is that the Thirteenth tale by the same author, is not available for purchase as an audible book in my country and already I am feeling bereft of a good audio book!

Would totally recommend.

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40 people found this helpful

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Serendipity

I came across this by accident because I was searching for books read by Juliet Stevenson who is one of my favourite readers. It was 16 hours of delight. I loved every minute of it. Juliet Stevenson is a wonderful performer and the story had me completely absorbed. There were one or two moments in the final hour where the book could have been drawn to a close and left one wondering, which might have been more literary, but I was so involved that I wanted every loose end tied up and the author managed to do this and still leave something to wonder about.

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30 people found this helpful

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Wonderful!

Tales within a tale! The characters brought to life by Juliet’s superb narration. This book will stay in my thoughts for quite sometime. Thank you Diane and Juliet for the pleasure I had in listening to this book.

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24 people found this helpful

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Great story

Loved it- a gentle tale which kept me listening wonderfully narrated will now look for more by the same author

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22 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars

Far too long for the story content

Really dissapointed with this book, as, from the 5* reviews I had read, I was expecting to be enthralled and captivated from the outset to the end.
The narrator is all that kept me listening to be honest, the first few chapters were promising but after that I found that the story did not really move on, and none of the characters held my imagination.. in fact, at the end of the book if asked to describe one character I liked, would have found it hard to connect to any of them

The odd thing is that the final summing up chapters gave a bit more interest which is why my headline says the book went on for far too long going nowhere, for the complete story contents.

Sorry my first book of this author does not encourage further reading.

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20 people found this helpful

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Wonderful listen!

I haven't even reached the half of it, but I love it tremendously. Lovely story and fantastic performance by Juliet Stevenson!

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18 people found this helpful

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    4 out of 5 stars
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A beautifully told tale

★★★★✰ 4 stars

“ Dreams and stories merge with lived experience, the dead and the living brush against each other in their comings and goings, the past and the present touch and overlap. Unexpected things can happen. Did the solstice have anything to do with the strange events at the Swan? You will have to judge for yourself.
Now you know everything you need to know, the story can begin.”


Having loved The Thirteenth Tale I had quite high expectations for Once Upon a River. While this novel is a bit of a departure from The Thirteenth Tale, Setterfield explores similar themes.
The act/art of storytelling plays a huge role in Once Upon a River, and I would go as far as to say that storytelling is the real protagonist of this novel. From its title and its very first pages, the novel addresses the importance of storytelling. The narration feels as belonging to a teller of tales. The way in which certain things are revealed to the reader and the careful rhythm created by stressing certain words or phrases really echoes fairy tales and folktales alike.
This novel is a homage to these types of tales, conjuring up lore whilst remaining faithful to its own story. Once Upon a River is a modern addition to a long beloved tradition and it provides readers with a more expressive and eloquent tale.

This novel is what I would describe as a slow burn. To start with, I didn't know that it was going to be an actual 'tale', so I wasn't sure of the direction of the narrative. I wondered at the large cast of characters, the to-and-fro between them, and the seemingly trivial details that take up so much of the narrative...and then, before I begun to realise it, I found myself completely absorbed by the world and the characters depicted by Setterfield. The little girl herself doesn't have a voice as such, which was a bit of a pity, and the novel seems to focus on the parents rather than the children. Nevertheless, there are many lovely and moving scenes between various family members, especially between husbands and wives.

My only issue in regards of these characters is that although the main characters felt nuanced, the 'bad guys' of the story are merely 'villains' and are to blame for all the horrible and or sad things that happen within the narrative. The novel seemed rather simplistic in its portrayal of good vs. bad. We get very few glimpses of the thoughts and motivations of the 'bad guys' and by the end it seemed a bit too easy to make them in such villainous figures. I know that fairy tales have such 'bad' figures but still, given that Setterfield has created a more complex sort of tale, I was hoping that all of the characters would be given the same sort of attention.

There are a lot of small mysteries interspersed throughout the narrative. Some might be easy to guess but it is the way in which the narrative reveals these 'mysteries' that makes them worth having. I was fascinated by the gossip and rumours surrounding the little girl, and it was interesting to see what various characters believed to be the truth:
Overall, I enjoyed it. It might be slow going at first but as the characters and their lives take shape, and lulled by the wistful and spellbinding narrative, I soon realised that Once Upon a River is not only a tale worth reading but a tale worth revisiting.

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15 people found this helpful

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Slow to get going

I nearly gave up as it took me a while to get into. The story was good and the narration excellent.

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11 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars
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Far too slow.

This is the first book I have not finished.
Well read with good voices. There are no humorous moments, it’s all a bit dull and serious.
Story is not complicated, girl is lost, who does she belong to? That’s the problem. We then meander to everybody’s private lives. I found it too easy not to listen.

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10 people found this helpful

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The River

Amazing book - like a fairy story very well told. Juliet Stevenson was the best narrator. Thankyou

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