Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield
I loved this book! I had wondered about buying it for a while, then I saw an ad on Instagram which persuaded me (yes, sometimes ads on social media do work!) I am very pleased I chose to purchase this novel, it was just brilliant.
How to describe this book…it wasn’t as I expected. I thought there might be a lot of old magic, superstitions and the like. But to be honest, there was just old-fashioned story telling. There were several storylines and characters that weaved their way together as the story went on. There were twists and turns. I thought the story was resolved, and then a twist! It wasn’t a “thriller” but it was gripping. Who is this girl, who was dead and now is alive? Which family does she belong to? How do all the people in this one area around the river Thames all fit together? It was a great story, a book I didn’t want to put down.
I haven’t read anything by Diane Setterfield before so her writing style was completely new to me. However, I loved the way the book was written. It felt like I was sitting in the pub, in front of the fire, listening to the stories/folk tales being shared.
This was such a good story. From start to finish I was hooked. I loved Setterfield’s writing styles; I loved the variations in the characters and how they were all linked; and without wanting to give too much away, I liked the fairly mysterious ending to the book as well. It felt fitting to the story. I highly recommend this novel.
4 out of 5