Once Upon a River

An amazing thing happens at an old inn on the Thames River on a gloomy midwinter's night. While the regulars pass the gloomy hours with tales, the door suddenly bursts open, revealing a stranger who has suffered severe injuries. A young child's dead corpse lies in his arms. After many hours, the girl moves, inhales, and comes back to life. What miracle is it? Is it mystical? Or is there a scientific answer available? There are several solutions to these questions, some of them rather sinister.

The people who live by the river use all of their creativity to try to figure out the riddle of the girl who died and then came back to life, but the mystery only becomes more complicated as time goes on. The youngster herself is deaf and unable to respond to basic inquiries such, "Who is she?" From whence did she originate? And who is she the property of? Answers, however, are plenty.

She has three eager families vying for her. The child has been missing for two years, and her rich young mother is aware that she was abducted. A rural family, still in shock over their son's covert relationship, is prepared to greet their granddaughter. The youngster reminds the parson's housekeeper, who is quiet and modest, of her younger sister. However, the return of a lost kid is not without difficulties, and this daughter cannot belong to everyone, no matter how tragic the previous losses were or how priceless the child was. Every family has secrets of its own, and before the identity of the girl is discovered, many secrets must be disclosed.

Once Upon a River is a glorious tapestry of a book that combines folklore and science, magic and myth. This novel's thrilling, romantic, and incredibly atmospheric opening will carry you along on a strong narrative current that will take you through real and made-up worlds before arriving at a triumphant conclusion whose depths will keep revealing their riches long after the last page is turned.