Once Upon a River - Hardcover

DIANE SETTERFIELD is the author of The Thirteenth Tale, which was published in thirty-eight countries worldwide and has sold more than three million copies, and Bellman & Black. Before leaving academia to pursue writing, she taught English at the Institut universitaire de technologie and the Ecole nationale supérieure de Chimie, both in Mulhouse, France, and later lectured in French at the University of Central Lancashire in the UK. She lives in Oxford, UK.

An Amazon Best Book of the Year
A Good Housekeeping Best Book of the Year

"Setterfield masterfuly assembles an ensemble of wounded, vulnerable characters who, nevertheless, live by the slimmest margins of hope. . . . [Once Upon a River] celebrates the timeless secrets of life, death and imagination—and the enduring power of words. Fans, rejoice!" —Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"Once Upon a River [is] an eerily mystic tale. . . . Though Setterfield writes emotions with marvelous truth and subtlety, her most stunning prose is reserved for evocative descriptions of the natural world, creating an immersive experience made of light, texture, scent and sensation. . . . This is not a tightly plotted whodunit so much as a story for those who appreciate the tale's telling as much as its end—who mark with interest the bends in the river, and who will treasure the friends they bump into along the way." —The Washington Post

"The panorama is impressive and rather beautiful. . . . The dream world is a sort of multiverse, teeming with the endless things that could have happened, that could never happen, that might happen still. The Dreamers explores this rich territory—the wild, unknowable life that blossoms only when we sleep—and some of the views are breathtaking." —USA Today

"This is an exquisite work of intimacy. Walker's sentences are smooth, emotionally arresting—of a true, ethereal beauty. Around the conscious experiences of loss, fear and heartbreak, we're invited into the dreamers' worlds, and there, in the slumbery depths, this book achieves its dazzling, aching humanity." —Entertainment Weekly

"Touching and terrifying . . . The Dreamers' sinister sleep provides the perfect ambiguous frame for a tense and layered plot, turning a familiar part of life into a threat. . . . Within Walker's dystopia, ordinary people endure and love, and the intricate dynamics of interlocking lives speak to both a society's fragility and its strength." —O: The Oprah Magazine

"Once Upon a River is a glorious tapestry of a book that combines folklore and science, magic and myth. Suspenseful, romantic and richly atmospheric, the beginning of this novel will sweep you away on a powerful current of storytelling, transporting you through worlds both real and imagined, to the triumphant conclusion whose depths will continue to give up their treasures long after the last page is turned." —Bookriot

"Diane Setterfield weaves a beautiful, suspenseful mystery . . . that will keep you engrossed until the very last page." —PopSugar

"Once Upon a River [is] a story that straddles the line between reality and fantasy, between science and the supernatural, between the land of the living and the unknown terrain of the dead. . . . Richly steeped in folklore and magical realism, Once Upon a River is a deeply moving novel about love and loss, family and community, about magic and science and that mysterious space between life and death. But most of all, it is a novel about stories, the ones we tell ourselves every day and the ones we choose to share with others." —Bustle

"Once Upon A River is magical, in every which way. . . . It's the power of her storytelling that allows readers to suspend disbelief, and draws them through each tangled, dazzling chapter. . . .  Setterfield's imagin­ation is powered by an otherworldly force. This riverine novel has the mood and feel of a ghost story told late into the night, and will win over readers who enjoy a touch of age-old enchantment." —Financial Times (UK)

"A bold, gripping narrative which fuses science, mystery and myth." —The Daily Mail (UK)

"Once Upon a River continues to demonstrate her mastery of the Gothic genre in a way that will appeal to modern readers. . . . Setterfield knows how to make the words sing. It is worth taking a journey down the Thames with her." —The Independent (UK)

"Setterfield is a master of the medium. Like the river at its core, her plot twists and turns with ease and confidence, and her writing is beautiful. The story she tells—and which her characters retell—is as vivid as the old folktales and real histories that inform it." —The Spectator (UK)

"One of the most pleasurable and satisfying new books I've read in a long time. Setterfield is a master storyteller. . . . Swift and entrancing, profound and beautiful." —Madeline Miller, internationally bestselling author of Circe and The Song of Achilles
 
"A beguiling tale, full of twists and turns like the river at its heart, and just as rich and intriguing." —M.L. Stedman, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Light Between Oceans
 
"This is magical, bewitching storytelling. . . . High prose expressed with rare clarity, story for the unashamed sake of story, a kind of moral dreaminess . . . well, the list continues to grow." —Jim Crace, National Book Critics Circle winner and author of Being Dead and Harvest
 
"I was completely spellbound by this book. Numerous strands of the same story are skillfully woven into a magical web from which I, as a reader, had no desire to escape. Setterfield's prose is beautiful, dark and eerily atmospheric, and her rich cast of characters convincingly illustrate the best and worst of humanity. Utterly brilliant!" —Ruth Hogan, internationally bestselling author of The Keeper of Lost Things and The Wisdom of Sally Red Shoes