Category: Henley Literary Festival

Blog Tour/Book Review: Once Upon A River by Diane Setterfield

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I’m thrilled to be kicking off the blog tour for Once Upon A River by Diane Setterfield.  My grateful thanks to Doubleday and Henley Literary Festival for my (signed) proof copy of  Once Upon A River and to Anne at Random Things Tours for inviting me to participate in the blog tour and for giving me the honour of the first stop.  Do check out the tour banner at the bottom of this post so you can follow the other fabulous book bloggers taking part in the tour.

Once Upon A River is published tomorrow (4th December) in ebook format and in the US and Canada in hardback as well.  It will be published in hardback in the UK on 17th January 2019.

Once Upon A RiverAbout the Book

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.

Format: Hardcover, ebook (432 pp.)    Publisher: Doubleday
Published in UK: 4th December 2018 (ebook), 17th January 2019 (hardcover)
Genre: Historical Fiction, Mystery

Pre-order/Purchase Links*
Amazon.co.uk  ǀ  Amazon.com  ǀ Hive.co.uk (supporting UK bookshops)
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find Once Upon A River on Goodreads

My Review

The dramatic moment early in the book when an injured stranger arrives at the riverside Swan inn with what seems to be the lifeless body of a child sets in motion a search for answers to many questions.  It’s a quest for the truth involving the weighing up of competing claims about the child’s identity, the resolution of previously unresolved mysteries and the seeming contradiction between scientific fact and perceived events.  More than anything, it’s a yearning for a story that makes sense.  Having witnessed the dramatic arrival, the regulars at the Swan, a place known for its storytelling, immediately begin to talk, ‘finding words to turn the night’s events into a story’.

The concept of story-telling forms a key part of the book.  The telling of stories is shown to be variously a source of entertainment, a skill, a tradition handed down through the generations, a way of making a living or impressing others.  The book explores how stories may be rooted in a geographical area or a period of history.  What also emerges from the book is that stories can be a means of trying to make sense of things but that the ownership of stories can be transitory as they travel, mutate or are embellished in the retelling.  And, who doesn’t crave to know how a story ends?

The richly drawn characters in the book embody all aspects of human nature – the good and the bad – and cleverly address the nature versus nurture debate.  My favourite character was Rita.  Independent minded and self-educated in nursing and midwifery, she has a logical, questioning approach to things using astute observation to analyse people and situations.  She proves herself to be brave, resourceful and daunted only by very particular fears about one aspect of life.

The river, described at one point as ‘majestic, powerful, unknowable’, plays a central role in the book – almost becoming a character in its own right.  I particularly loved the chapter ‘Tributaries’ in which the author cleverly uses the river as a model for introducing other characters into the story.

The river is frequently a source of metaphor too.  For example, at one point a character finds himself hemmed in by a crowd of people – a ‘throng thickened to stagnation’ – until he eventually finds space and ‘a sluggish current’ that allows him to progress.  A group of drinkers at the Swan, trying to make sense of events find their thoughts have ‘eddied round, discovered currents within currents, met counter currents.’  Another character, facing a moral dilemma, finds himself ‘no more able to direct the current of his life than a piece of debris can control the stream that carries it.’

The river is not the only elemental force in the book.  The changing seasons, particularly the points of the year marked by the solstices and equinoxes, are the backdrop to pivotal moments in the book.  Although set in the age of scientific discovery – Darwin’s theory of evolution, the dawn of the study of psychology and the human mind – the characters in the book come across things that seemingly can’t be explained by logic, facts or reason.  Some choose to fall back on the supernatural and stories older than the one they are currently living through.   At times, characters experience presentiments about future events which, as well as tapping into the supernatural aspect of the book, also create narrative tension.

In the breathless final chapters, a positive torrent of secrets is unleashed, the true nature of things becomes evident and natural instincts are proved correct.  At the end, everything feels perfectly in balance with the rhythms of life from birth to death.  Like the ebb and flow of the tide, if you like.  (Sorry, these water metaphors are catching.)

I was lucky enough to hear Diane Setterfield talk about Once Upon A River at this year’s Henley Literary Festival, as it happens whilst sailing up the River Thames that is such an important part of the story.  (You can read my write-up of the event here.)  Hearing her talk about the book gave me additional insight into the themes it explores and resulted in a few ‘Ah, yes’ moments of recognition while I was reading it.

I think you can probably tell that I absolutely loved this book.  To borrow a watery metaphor from the author, I was swept away by the story and the skill with which it was told.   I closed Once Upon A River with a sigh of satisfaction, if I’m honest a little teary-eyed, and certain in the knowledge this will be one of my favourite books of the year.  Right now, it’s definitely challenging for the top spot.

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In three words: Magical, atmospheric, suspenseful

Try something similar…The Good People by Hannah Kent (read my review here)

Diane Setterfield Author PictureAbout the Author

Diane Setterfield’s bestselling novel, The Thirteenth Tale, was published in 38 countries, sold more than three million copies, and was made into a television drama scripted by Christopher Hampton, starring Olivia Colman and Vanessa Redgrave. Her second novel was Bellman & Black, and her new novel is Once Upon a River. Born in rural Berkshire, she now lives near Oxford, by the Thames.

Connect with Diane

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FINAL Once Upon A River BT Poster

 

Throwback Thursday: The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

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ThrowbackThursday

Throwback Thursday is a weekly meme created by Renee at It’s Book Talk.  It’s designed as an opportunity to share old favourites as well as books that we’ve finally got around to reading that were published over a year ago.

Today I’m reviewing The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield.  Published to critical acclaim in 2006 and described as ‘a love letter to reading’, The Thirteenth Tale was Diane’s first novel.  It spent three weeks at number one in The New York Times hardback fiction list.

The Thirteenth TaleAbout the Book

All children mythologize their birth… So begins the prologue of reclusive author Vida Winter’s collection of stories, which are as famous for the mystery of the missing thirteenth tale as they are for the delight and enchantment of the twelve that do exist.

The enigmatic Winter has spent six decades creating various outlandish life histories for herself – all of them inventions that have brought her fame and fortune but have kept her violent and tragic past a secret. Now old and ailing, she at last wants to tell the truth about her extraordinary life. She summons biographer Margaret Lea, a young woman for whom the secret of her own birth, hidden by those who loved her most, remains an ever-present pain. Struck by a curious parallel between Miss Winter’s story and her own, Margaret takes on the commission.

As Vida disinters the life she meant to bury for good, Margaret is mesmerized. It is a tale of gothic strangeness featuring the Angelfield family, including the beautiful and wilful Isabelle, the feral twins Adeline and Emmeline, a ghost, a governess, a topiary garden and a devastating fire.

Margaret succumbs to the power of Vida’s storytelling but remains suspicious of the author’s sincerity. She demands the truth from Vida, and together they confront the ghosts that have haunted them while becoming, finally, transformed by the truth themselves.

Format: ebook (418 pp.)    Publisher: Orion
Published: 8th December 2011 [September 2006] Genre: Historical Fiction

Purchase Links*
Amazon.co.uk  ǀ  Amazon.com  ǀ Hive.co.uk (supporting UK bookshops)
*links provided for convenience, not as part of any affiliate programme

Find The Thirteenth Tale on Goodreads

My Review

I was part way through The Thirteenth Tale when I was lucky enough to hear Diane Setterfield speak at this year’s Henley Literary Festival about her approach to writing and, in particular, about her forthcoming book, Once Upon A River. You can read my full review of the event here.  (Oh, and look out for my review of Once Upon A River as part of the blog tour starting in December.)

I was struck by Diane’s thoughts on storytelling as an important theme in her books.  Admitting she’d always had an interest – and not just a professional interest – in storytelling, Diane observed that we all organise information, gossip, and so on into stories about ourselves.  Diane described humans as intrinsically ‘storytelling animals’.  To quote from The Thirteenth Tale, “Everybody has a story.”

The book epitomises that emphasis on storytelling because, not only is its main character, Vida Winter, an author but she is a notably reclusive one who has carefully guarded the true facts of her life, spreading misinformation in its place.  Furthermore, the plot centres on the mystery of a ‘missing’ thirteenth tale from her most famous collection of stories.  What could be more enticing than the prospect of tracking down and reading a missing story?

Having heard Diane’s thoughts made me return to the book with renewed interest and with an increased awareness of the way in which storytelling permeates the book.  Many of the characters are in search of or trying to make sense of the story of their life; others are facing up to the need to finally reveal it.  In some cases, uncovering the true nature of their story does not bring them the clarity or satisfaction they hoped for.  As Aurelius Love observes, “Perhaps it’s better not to have a story at all, rather than have one that keep changing.  I have spent my whole life chasing after my story, and never quite catching it.”

There is also a sense in the book of the story of Vida’s life having an existence of its own; that it is fighting to make itself heard.  At one point she comments: “Silence is not a natural environment for stories.  They need words.  Without them they grow pale, sicken and die.”

I found The Thirteenth Tale an engrossing read; full of atmosphere and with a series of intriguing mysteries at its heart helped by some fine writing. ‘From the day I was born grief was always present.  It settled like dust upon the household.  It covered everything; it invaded us with every breath we took.  It shrouded us in our own separate mysteries.’  The settings have a real sense of the Gothic.  I’m now excited to start reading Once Upon A River very shortly.

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In three words: Suspenseful, Gothic, mystery

Try something similar…The Clockmaker’s Daughter by Kate Morton (read my spoiler free review here)

Diane SetterfieldAbout the Author

Diane Setterfield’s bestselling novel, The Thirteenth Tale (2006) was published in 38 countries worldwide and has sold more than three million copies. Her second novel, Bellman & Black (2013) was a genre-defying tale of rooks and Victorian retail.  January 2019 sees the publication of her new title, Once Upon a River, which has been called ‘bewitching’ and ‘enchanting’.

Born in Englefield, Berkshire in 1964, Diane spent most of her childhood in the nearby village of Theale.  Diane studied French Literature at the University of Bristol.  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 left academia in the late 1990s to pursue writing.  Diane now lives in Oxford. When not writing she reads widely, and when not actually reading she is usually talking or thinking about reading.

Connect with Diane

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