From the Bookshelf of Into the Forest…

Once Upon a River

Diane Setterfield

Start date: January 15, 2019

Finish date: March 15, 2019

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

No group discussions for this book yet.

What Members Thought

Nov 10, 2021 Megan rated it really liked it

Shelves: england, victorian, mystery, gothic, historical, romance

This book was a wonderful surprise. It’s a complex Gothic/mystery/historical novel with beautiful writing and an atmospheric setting. I love how the River is it’s own character. There’s a focus on stories and storytelling, families, the line between reality and the supernatural. It’s like a mix between Dickens and Grimm’s fairytales. There are plenty of mysteries and engaging characters to keep the reader hooked throughout. Is the end completely wrapped up? What really happened?

Content: Definite ...more

5 likes · Like · see review

Jan 10, 2019 Nicole Evelina added it

Shelves: read-fiction

Beautifully atmospheric but very, very long. Gets tedious and slow after a while. I loved her first book, but #2 and this one didn’t do it for me.

2 likes · Like · see review

Dec 30, 2019 Kirstie rated it really liked it

Shelves: fairy-tale, speculative-fiction

The overall plot concept for this book is very cool and I love the fairy tale elements throughout it.
There's a pretty large cast, and you're thrown in deep pretty quickly so I was a little lost at first, but found my footing before I reached the point of rage-quitting. I even grew to love quite a few of them.
I loved the idea of the ferryman (anyone who's read any of my fairy tale stories knows this, I'm always trying to include ferryman in them) and I liked the different twist to it, that he was ...more

Like · see review