![]() ![]() On the night of the winter solstice, a grotesquely battered and bloodied stranger bursts into the Swan. ![]() In exchange for Quietly's perpetual vigilance as the river's watchman, protector and guide, his daughter was returned safe and sound. Everyone knows, for example, about the river gypsies on the Thames and the eternal bargain they struck with Quietly, a mute ferryman whose daughter died in a river accident. ![]() Well-worn folktales and legends known by heart are embellished for dramatic effect and generously shared among strangers and kin alike. Setterfield's lyrical prose leads readers to the Swan at Radcot, an inn along the Thames River where, in 1887, villagers gather in the evenings to drink and tell stories. Dreams and stories merge with lived experience, the dead and the living brush against each other in their comings and goings, and the past and present touch and overlap. And as the borders between night and day stretch to their thinnest, so too do the borders between worlds. They nod at noon, dream in waking hours, open their eyes wide to the pitch-black night. "As is well-known, when the moon hours lengthen, human beings come adrift from the regularity of their mechanical clocks. ![]() In her third novel, Setterfield ( The Thirteenth Tale) embarks on a fantastical journey, one with an abundance of magic and mystery. A story with a fairytale title like Once Upon a River promises to transport readers to another place and time, and New York Times bestselling author Diane Setterfield doesn't disappoint. ![]()
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