--- product_id: 130210244 title: "Once Upon a River: A Novel" price: "₨11688" currency: LKR in_stock: true reviews_count: 8 url: https://www.desertcart.lk/products/130210244-once-upon-a-river-a-novel store_origin: LK region: Sri Lanka --- # Once Upon a River: A Novel **Price:** ₨11688 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Once Upon a River: A Novel - **How much does it cost?** ₨11688 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.lk](https://www.desertcart.lk/products/130210244-once-upon-a-river-a-novel) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description Once Upon a River: A Novel [Setterfield, Diane] on desertcart.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Once Upon a River: A Novel Review: Masterfully told - I have to say that the writing style of this author is like nothing I've ever read. It's a beautifully interwoven tale. Part murder mystery, part love story, part story of healing, and so many other things. The plot and characters are somewhat complex, you definitely need to pay attention. But you come to love all the characters and empathize with their stories of loss. The author developed the storyline, characters, and world in masterful ways! I loved the weaving in of folk tales and legends - the blurring of real life, magic, and said folk tales. It was one of my favorite parts of the story. I'm left with a feeling of completion - wholeness. The ending was just what it needed to be. Review: Engaging but complicated tale featuring the Thames - Setterfield’s book is part mystery, part fantasy, and part ode to the Thames River. In the late 1870s near a village called Radcott, an injured man stumbles into a local inn during a storm. Regulars huddled around the fire are startled by the man’s appearance and by the fact he appears to carry a drowned young girl in his arms. The summoned neighborhood doctor/nurse Rita searches in vain for a pulse or breath in the girl before turning her attention to the injured man. The girl’s body is placed in an outbuilding until the storm abates. To everyone’s amazement, the girl recovers, but she either won’t or can’t talk. The search begins for the parents. Two sets of people come forward to see the child. The first couple is the wealthy Vaughns convinced that the child is their Amelia, a girl who went missing months before when she strayed too close to the river’s edge. The second couple is the Armstrongs, Robert and his wife Bess, who think the child might be their grandchild, Alice. The Armstrong’s son Robin is whom they think is the father of the child. Robin has been a constant source of trouble to the Armstrongs growing into a deceitful young man with less than honorable close friends and associates. Robert Armstrong fears that the girl is an abandoned child of Robin’s. Both sets of couples want to provide the child with a home, but as the Vaughns were the first to see her and lay claim to her, the Armstrongs relinquish their claim glad to see the child is well-cared for. Robert Armstrong still wants to visit the girl which causes the Vaughns some worry. Meanwhile, Henry Daunt, who found the child in the river and brought the child to the inn also feels a responsibility for the child for the girl. He and the nurse Rita keep tabs on the child’s condition in the hopes that she will recover the ability to speak. Lily is another person, a woman who keeps to herself and works at the parsonage who has reason to believe she knows who the child is. At the inn where the incident occurred, a local tale has circulated for many years about a riverman who lost his daughter in the Thames. As local legend would have it, he is said to be forever charged with roaming the river to rescue some people, but to take others to the other side of the river from which there is no return. Setterfield has written a complex story with many characters and subplots. It’s an engaging read, but I found myself confused about all the girls who disappeared. If you were to add the riverman’s daughter there are a total of four missing girls, three of whom are named Alice, Amelia, and finally, Ann. I had a hard time keeping Alice and Amelia straight with their correct backstories. It’s an atmospheric story that kept me reading, but not one to pick up on a day with a lot of distractions. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #109,296 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #512 in Gothic Fiction #990 in Historical British & Irish Literature #1,238 in Literary Fiction (Books) | | Customer Reviews | 4.3 out of 5 stars 20,224 Reviews | ## Images ![Once Upon a River: A Novel - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81q9faIVstL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Masterfully told *by K***E on May 3, 2025* I have to say that the writing style of this author is like nothing I've ever read. It's a beautifully interwoven tale. Part murder mystery, part love story, part story of healing, and so many other things. The plot and characters are somewhat complex, you definitely need to pay attention. But you come to love all the characters and empathize with their stories of loss. The author developed the storyline, characters, and world in masterful ways! I loved the weaving in of folk tales and legends - the blurring of real life, magic, and said folk tales. It was one of my favorite parts of the story. I'm left with a feeling of completion - wholeness. The ending was just what it needed to be. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Engaging but complicated tale featuring the Thames *by K***Y on January 29, 2019* Setterfield’s book is part mystery, part fantasy, and part ode to the Thames River. In the late 1870s near a village called Radcott, an injured man stumbles into a local inn during a storm. Regulars huddled around the fire are startled by the man’s appearance and by the fact he appears to carry a drowned young girl in his arms. The summoned neighborhood doctor/nurse Rita searches in vain for a pulse or breath in the girl before turning her attention to the injured man. The girl’s body is placed in an outbuilding until the storm abates. To everyone’s amazement, the girl recovers, but she either won’t or can’t talk. The search begins for the parents. Two sets of people come forward to see the child. The first couple is the wealthy Vaughns convinced that the child is their Amelia, a girl who went missing months before when she strayed too close to the river’s edge. The second couple is the Armstrongs, Robert and his wife Bess, who think the child might be their grandchild, Alice. The Armstrong’s son Robin is whom they think is the father of the child. Robin has been a constant source of trouble to the Armstrongs growing into a deceitful young man with less than honorable close friends and associates. Robert Armstrong fears that the girl is an abandoned child of Robin’s. Both sets of couples want to provide the child with a home, but as the Vaughns were the first to see her and lay claim to her, the Armstrongs relinquish their claim glad to see the child is well-cared for. Robert Armstrong still wants to visit the girl which causes the Vaughns some worry. Meanwhile, Henry Daunt, who found the child in the river and brought the child to the inn also feels a responsibility for the child for the girl. He and the nurse Rita keep tabs on the child’s condition in the hopes that she will recover the ability to speak. Lily is another person, a woman who keeps to herself and works at the parsonage who has reason to believe she knows who the child is. At the inn where the incident occurred, a local tale has circulated for many years about a riverman who lost his daughter in the Thames. As local legend would have it, he is said to be forever charged with roaming the river to rescue some people, but to take others to the other side of the river from which there is no return. Setterfield has written a complex story with many characters and subplots. It’s an engaging read, but I found myself confused about all the girls who disappeared. If you were to add the riverman’s daughter there are a total of four missing girls, three of whom are named Alice, Amelia, and finally, Ann. I had a hard time keeping Alice and Amelia straight with their correct backstories. It’s an atmospheric story that kept me reading, but not one to pick up on a day with a lot of distractions. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Infused with folklore, an ode to the river Thames! *by C***G on September 12, 2019* A dark night during the midwinter solstice, a lost child, a riverside inn known for weaving tales…infused with folklore, this novel from the author of The Thirteenth Tale is an ode to the river Thames and the way it steeps the culture of those who live on its shores. Once Upon A River starts with a thrilling event that quickens the heart, but it is as slow and meandering a tale as the river it is set around. “The river does not seem particularly intent on reaching its destination…Instead it winds its way in time-wasting loops and diversions,” observes the narrator of Diane Setterfield’s third novel. The sparking start, where a man with a bashed in face kicks in the door of a riverside inn with what appears to be a doll. Only, it’s not a doll, but a child’s corpse, who suddenly, and in inexplicable ways, returns to life. What follows is a slowed pace, a delicate and precious unwrapping of who this little girl may be; the novel, like any river, spreads into three plot tributaries. One relates the tale of a prosperous mixed-race farmer with a wayward adult stepson. The second follows a wealthy landowner whose marriage to a once lively, wild woman has now thinned due to the kidnapping and disappearance of their two-year-old daughter. Lastly we meet the fearful, half-simple housekeeper for the village parson. All the while we have the outliers, a woman trained in medicine who grows attached to the child and the man, in as slow and murky a way as the water flowing past them everyday. The story takes shape around claims each of these parties makes on the little lost girl. Unlike The Thirteenth Tale, which is filled with ghosts, incest, a country manor, murder and an evil twin, Once Upon A River is a milder and much more wholesome, with characters who are more shades of white and pale grey than black. The wholesomeness of this tale harkens to the folklore and whimsy of life on a river, tales that are woven into the mud and marsh and born into the blood of the occupants dwelling nearby. It’s quaint and charming, meandering as calmly as the setting, the book is by no means a page-turner. Instead it takes its time, build the suspense, the wonder inside the readers head as they try to uncover all that might unfold. Who really is this child? Where did she come from? There is plenty of heart, and happy endings with even the sprinkling of ghosts finding rest by the end. More classic and fashioned after Dickens than the darkened, chilling themes of Brontë, Once Upon A River may not be newly imagined, but it is simple, delicious and familiar. --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.lk/products/130210244-once-upon-a-river-a-novel](https://www.desertcart.lk/products/130210244-once-upon-a-river-a-novel) --- *Product available on Desertcart Sri Lanka* *Store origin: LK* *Last updated: 2026-04-30*