Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield is a literary fiction novel centered around the appearance of a mysterious child who is claimed by three different parties. Setterfield is an English native who holds a PhD in French literature earned from the University of Bristol. She taught English at the Institut Universitaire de Technologie and the Ecole nationale supérieure de Chimie before retiring to formally pursue writing. She lives in Oxford by the Thames River and has local knowledge of the novel’s setting. Once Upon a River was first published in December of 2018 and explores how stories are created, especially during times of grief.

This guide uses the First Emily Bestler Books/Washington Square Press paperback edition circulated in July of 2019.

Content Warning: This novel contains instances of child abuse, child death, kidnapping, sexual assault, domestic violence, and suicide. It also uses the term “river gypsies” (a term that has often been used as a slur for Roma people) to refer to a group of nomadic people. This guide uses the more appropriate term “nomads.”

Plot Summary

On the night of the winter solstice, an injured man carries the corpse of a child into the Swan inn. Margot Ockwell, the innkeeper, Joe Bliss, her husband, and Jonathan, their son, organize the chaos that erupts. The corpse is taken outside while Rita Sunday, the local nurse, attends to the badly injured man. She goes to examine The Child’s body and finds her alive. Rita stays the night to attend to the man and The Child while the regulars of the Swan spread the story.

The narrator then introduces three central parties. First, Robert Armstrong—called Armstrong—and his wife Bess, who worry about their eldest son Robin after finding a torn letter in his jacket pocket that reveals he has a daughter. Next, Helena Vaughan, wife of a rich landowner, floats downstream in a rowboat she isn’t rowing as she is in a deep state of mourning. Her husband, Anthony—called Vaughan—visits a “psychic” woman named Mrs. Constantine to bribe her into telling Helena that their daughter Amelia, who has been missing for two years, is dead. Lastly, the reader meets Lily White, a cleaner for the local parson who has terrible nightmares of her dead sister Ann. Armstrong travels to Bampton, where he finds the corpse of his son’s wife in a brothel. He encounters a young, abused boy named Benjamin, to whom he offers a place to live and work. Armstrong believes his granddaughter is dead, but he learns that a child has been found and is at the Swan.

Lily is the first to arrive at the Swan, claiming The Child is her sister before fleeing. Armstrong arrives and explains his situation to Margot, the innkeeper. Vaughan learns of The Child, but Helena beats him to the Swan; by the time he arrives, Helena has already claimed the girl as the missing Amelia. In the next room, the man who brought The Child to the Swan—Henry Daunt—regains consciousness. Daunt explains the night of his accident to Rita as Robin Armstrong arrives. Robin faints upon seeing The Child, but says she is not his daughter. Rita tells Daunt the story of Quietly the ferryman, who shepherds people to safety or to death depending on whether it is their time. The Vaughans take The Child home as the regulars at the Swan continue to spread her story.

Lily continues to believe that The Child is her sister despite their 40-year age difference. Rita visits the Vaughan family to ensure that The Child, who hasn’t yet spoken, is well. Rita is later attacked by someone who wants information about the girl. Vaughan is convinced that The Child is not Amelia but he’s glad that Helena is no longer in mourning. Daunt recovers from his injuries and buys a boat, turning it into a mobile photography studio. He reconnects with Rita and the two bond over the strange experiences surrounding The Child. Lily is stolen from and assaulted by her stepbrother, Victor Nash, who uses her barn to sell illegal liquor. Armstrong tries to reach out to Robin but is rebuffed. The reader learns that Robin is the product of rape and not Armstrong’s biological son.

At a fair held on the summer solstice, the brothel owner who housed Robin’s late wife loudly announces that The Child is Alice Armstrong, Robin’s daughter. Robin takes her from the Vaughans and gives her to Armstrong to care for. Rita attends to the grieving Helena and reveals major news: Helena is pregnant. Daunt and Rita grow closer but decide to stop seeing each other because Rita does not want children. Vaughan is blackmailed by a man who says Robin will give up his claim to The Child if he pays enough money. Vaughan returns to Mrs. Constantine’s home, where he confesses that the real Amelia is dead. He found her body the night of the kidnapping but was so overwhelmed with grief that he put her in the river. Mrs. Constantine encourages him to confess to Helena. Meanwhile, Rita goes to a photography session at the Armstrong farm. There, Armstrong asks Daunt about a picture he found at the summer fair: one of his favorite pig, Maud, who went missing three years prior. Bess realizes how unhappy The Child is and asks Rita and Daunt to take her back to the Vaughans. There, Rita and Daunt interrupt Vaughan’s confession; they, too, learn that The Child is not Amelia. The adults develop a plot to make Amelia’s kidnapper reveal themselves. Daunt arranges for a magic lantern show at the Swan, with the intent to encourage the locals to think of people involved in the kidnapping. Lily flees the show in distress when it seems like the ghost of a child points at her. Rita and Armstrong follow her. They find Armstrong’s missing pig and hear the story of how Lily was tricked into throwing her sister into the river.

They realize that Victor Nash was involved in the kidnapping plot and try to catch him, but he escapes into the river. Several months later, Armstrong returns home from market to learn that Robin threatened his mother and sister for money. Helena and Vaughan realize The Child is missing, and the stress makes Helena go into labor. Daunt takes them to the Swan by boat, where Rita is helping Margot’s husband Joe pass. Helena gives birth to a baby boy, still in its amniotic sac, as Joe dies. Armstrong goes to meet Robin; Robin reveals he knows that he is not Armstrong’s son, but he mistakenly believes he is the son of a lord. As Armstrong tries to explain, Victor reveals himself, and Robin learns that Victor raped his mother. Victor reveals that the kidnapping plot was Robin’s idea, and that Robin accidentally dropped Amelia into the river while they were escaping. Robin and Victor fight and wind up in the flooded river. Armstrong watches as Quietly takes them away. He joins the search for The Child, but Jonathan tells the men that he saw Quietly take her and Joe, and that The Child told him that Quietly was her father. Armstrong returns to his farm and, late that night, is surprised by Benjamin finally arriving—with Alice, Robin’s daughter.

After floodwaters drop, Helena and Vaughan find Amelia’s skeleton; they move to New Zealand with their newborn son. Daunt and Rita enter a relationship and conceive a child they believe to be a girl. Lily moves into the parsonage. Rumors circulate that The Child has been reunited with her family, a group of river nomads, but those involved believe that the girl is with Quietly. At the novel’s close, stories circulate that the girl grows up with her father the ferryman, eventually replacing him as a guide of souls.