Once Upon a River
A Novel
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- اطلاعات
- نقد و بررسی
- دیدگاه کاربران
نقد و بررسی
October 8, 2018
Setterfield (The Thirteenth Tale) braids miracle and mystery in this marvelous tale set in the upper reaches of the Thames at the end of the 19th century. The story begins on a winter solstice night, when a gravely injured man stumbles into the Swan inn at Radcot and collapses. While the local nurse, Rita Sunday, is being summoned, the innkeeper’s son discovers that the large puppet the man was carrying is a little girl who at first appears to have drowned. After tending to the unconscious man, Rita turns her attentions to the child, who, stunningly, returns to life. The tale of the dead-then-alive girl travels throughout the night, and, in the morning, three parties arrive to claim her: Lily White, housekeeper to the parson, identifies the child as her sister Ann, despite the age difference; Robert Armstrong, a prosperous farmer, believes the girl to be the child of his absent son, Robin; and Helena and Anthony Vaughan hope that she might be their daughter, Amelia, kidnapped two years before. Setterfield’s characters attempt to puzzle out the child’s identity. By combining flavors of some of Britain’s very best writers—a hint of Austen’s domestic stories, a tinge of Tolkien’s more folkloric elements, and a dash of mystery from Christie—Setterfield has created a tale not to be missed.
It's easy to become immersed in this audiobook about a river and its neighbors. At the center of the tale is a young girl who was retrieved from the river, apparently dead. Yet, somehow, she revived and lives, but does not speak. From that beginning, this novel grows into an examination of the lives of the people in the village. Juliet Stevenson is simply an excellent narrator. She convincingly portrays each member of a large cast that includes an abused woman who is a bit slow, a nurse with deep dreads, a selfish son, and a couple grieving their missing daughter. Stevenson can slip in and out of attitudes, accents, and personalities seemingly effortlessly. The story and its telling are an awesome combination. G.S. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award � AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine
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