⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5 stars!
“Once Upon a River”, is about three families who all have lost something, and an ancient inn where the locals gather to tell stories in the winter; then there is the arrival of a mysterious little girl who is delivered by the river. Who is she? Where has she come from? Where does she belong? So ensues a story that will grip you and make you once again understand why storytelling is one of the most powerful things in this world.
I absolutely LOVED this book! It’s eeriness and gorgeous (such beautiful!) writing reminded me of Hannah Kent or the brilliance of Daphne de Maurier. This is a very, very slow paced novel, that inhabits many characters to keep track of and with honestly only a few moments of heightened excitement. I feel like this was very intentional though, because of the story being centered around the River Thames; very much a character in itself. A river is very unpredictable. One day it’s calm, the next it’s faster in movement and then the next it can destroy lives.
It took me a moment to get the three families straight and all the characters, but once I hit about the halfway point I was completely immersed. This story is so good and I really ended up loving these characters so much. The ending is perfect! Not necessarily because everything is tied up nicely, but because it’s just a wonderful ending to a story about loss, hope, and the love of where stories begin.
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