Once Upon a River: The spellbinding Sunday Times bestseller

Diane Setterfield has a wonderful talent for writing quirky books and love them. In fact I loved this one so much that I bought it both as an e-book and then as an audio book too. The tale starts on a dark winter's night in an old inn on the banks of the Thames, the door opens to admit an injured man carrying a dead child in his arms, this would be enough to cause a stir but, a couple of hours later, the child returns to life! Who she is, where she comes from and many, many other questions are raised by this somewhat unusual state of affairs. The answers to these questions and the intertwined mysteries and secrets involved are the plot of this brilliant novel. Ms Setterfield knows how to hook her reader's interest and how to keep it hooked, I couldn't put the book down and it's uncomfortable to perch on the edge of one's seat for so long! A mesmerising tale, very highly recommended.

The book meanders through the plot and characters like the river. It is gripping but slow, then it speeds up to the ending. Wonderful characters and atmosphere. Loved it

Written in the style of an English classic author, the story and characters in this novel, where the Thames is just as important a character, hooked me in from the start and I didn't want to finish it.