Book Review: Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield

 

Once Upon a River

by Diane Setterfield

Diane Setterfield is masterful at weaving the shimmering threads of a simple tale, richly told, into a complex and beautiful tapestry. There is a saying, variously credited in different places, that easy reading is hard writing. I suspect that is very true of Setterfield’s stories.

Her writing, in its’ pacing and richness of language, reminds me very much of Neil Gaiman, and though it is in a gothic vein, there is a touch less horror to it. There is both the fantastical but also the scientific here.

This story opens in the local drinking house of a village on the Thames, where a stranger appears, broken nose and eyes nearly swollen shut, carrying the body of a 4-year-old girl, who is generally acknowledged to be dead. His burden discharged, the stranger collapses and the local nurse, Rita, is sent for. A few hours later, the little girl returns to life, or so it seems. But who is she? No less than three different people claim to know who she is, but are any of them correct?

Helena Vaughn believes it is her daughter who was kidnapped two years before, but her husband is woefully certain it is not. Robin Armstrong claims she is his little girl, who he has not seen for a year, and whose mother attempted to drown the little girl then took her own life, a week before. His stepfather, Robert Armstrong sets out to learn the truth. Lilly White, the housekeeper for the parsonage, is certain she is Ann, her little sister, but Lilly is middle aged and her sister disappeared when Lilly was a child herself.

Who is this child? And why does she not speak and tell them? Was she fished out of the river by Quietly, the boatman who it is said haunts the river, fishing out the drown and carrying those in need to either their rest or back to the living?

Rita, the nurse, and Daunt, the photographer who arrived carrying the girl after his own mishap, are both enamored of the child and brought together by their interest in seeing her safe. Rita has her own scientific theories and barters with Daunt to help her in testing them in exchange for sitting for photographs.

Setterfield gives us the action but also gives us scenes which illustrate the backstory of the main characters in detail then sets about bringing them all together. It is a rich and engrossing tale told masterfully by a writer at the height of her abilities. I cannot recommend this story more.