8 Best mystery books like Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield

Cover of Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield

Once Upon a River

By: Diane Setterfield

3.95

Format: 464 pages, Hardcover

On a dark midwinter’s night in an ancient inn on the river Thames, an extraordinary event takes pla…

"There must be more to stories than you think."

-Diane Setterfield, Once Upon a River

"A curtain was drawn back in every man's inner theater and their storytelling minds got to work."

-Diane Setterfield, Once Upon a River

"They think I am concealing my ugliness from them, when in truth it is their ugliness I am hiding."

-Diane Setterfield, Once Upon a River

"A child is not an empty vessel.... to be formed in whatever way the parent thinks fit. They are born with their own hearts and they cannot be made otherwise, no matter what love a man lavishes on them."

-Diane Setterfield, Once Upon a River

If you liked the mystery plot in Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield , here is a list of 8 books like this:

1. The Miniaturist

By: Jessie Burton

3.67

Format: None pages, Hardcover

Set in seventeenth century Amsterdam--a city ruled by glittering wealth and oppressive religion--a … read more

Similar categories in Jessie Burton's The Miniaturist book and Diane Setterfield's Once Upon a River

2. The Essex Serpent

By: Sarah Perry

3.64

Format: None pages, Hardcover

Set in Victorian London and an Essex village in the 1890's, and enlivened by the debates on scienti… read more

Similar categories in Sarah Perry's The Essex Serpent book and Diane Setterfield's Once Upon a River

Cover of Homecoming by Kate Morton

3. Homecoming

By: Kate Morton

4.07

Format: 547 pages, Hardcover

Adelaide Hills, Christmas Eve, 1959: At the end of a scorching hot day, beside a creek on the groun… read more

Similar categories in Kate Morton's Homecoming book and Diane Setterfield's Once Upon a River

  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • mystery
  • adult
  • audiobook
"Stress can make even the most loving mother lose control."

-Kate Morton, Homecoming

"What is the truth anyway?" Jess had once been asked by a curious friend. "It's what happened." "According to whom?"

-Kate Morton, Homecoming

"There's other ways to travel." She was right. He had books, and there was no barrier to the places he could visit in his own mind."

-Kate Morton, Homecoming

"Bad things happen to the best of people, and we cannot let them overwhelm us. Life doesn’t always work out the way we plan, but it does work out in the end."

-Kate Morton, Homecoming

Cover of The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon

4. The Frozen River

By: Ariel Lawhon

4.43

Format: 432 pages, Hardcover

A gripping historical mystery inspired by the life and diary of Martha Ballard, a renowned 18th-cen… read more

Similar categories in Ariel Lawhon's The Frozen River book and Diane Setterfield's Once Upon a River

  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • mystery
  • adult
  • audiobook
Cover of Go as a River by Shelley Read

5. Go as a River

By: Shelley Read

4.28

Format: 320 pages, Hardcover

A sweeping, heart-stopping epic of a young woman's journey to becoming, set against the harsh beaut… read more

Similar categories in Shelley Read's Go as a River book and Diane Setterfield's Once Upon a River

  • literary fiction
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • adult
  • audiobook
"Women endure. That’s what we do."

-Shelley Read, Go as a River

"Loss has nothing to do with what you do deserve and don’t deserve."

-Shelley Read, Go as a River

"I learned from their subtle relations... that love is a private matter, to be nurtured, and even mourned, between two beings alone. It belongs to them, and no one else, like a secret treasure, like a…"

-Shelley Read, Go as a River

"Try as we might to convince ourselves otherwise, the moments of our becoming cannot be carefully plucked like the ripest and most satisfying peach from the bough. In the endless stumble toward oursel…"

-Shelley Read, Go as a River

Cover of Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

6. Tom Lake

By: Ann Patchett

3.99

Format: 309 pages, Hardcover

In this beautiful and moving novel about family, love, and growing up, Ann Patchett once again prov… read more

Similar categories in Ann Patchett's Tom Lake book and Diane Setterfield's Once Upon a River

  • literary fiction
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • adult
  • audiobook
"You can’t pretend this [Covid] isn’t happening,"

-Ann Patchett, Tom Lake

"In the summer the pear trees were fine. In the summer, all that is hideous about a pear tree is hidden by leaves and pears. But once those disguises were removed they were nothing but acres of murder…"

-Ann Patchett, Tom Lake

"Hazel, listen to me. I'm going to tell you something important, you need to be brave.' I then explained to the dog how I have told myself for so many years that my career fell apart because I wasn't …"

-Ann Patchett, Tom Lake

"It's as if someone bought all the diamonds at Tiffany's, and crushed them into dust, then spread that dust across the water so that it sifts down evenly, filtering through the shards of light that cu…"

-Ann Patchett, Tom Lake

Cover of The Covenant of Water by Abraham   Verghese

7. The Covenant of Water

By: Abraham Verghese

4.45

Format: 724 pages, Hardcover

From the New York Times-bestselling author of Cutting for Stone comes a stunning and magisterial ep… read more

Similar categories in Abraham Verghese's The Covenant of Water book and Diane Setterfield's Once Upon a River

  • literary fiction
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • audiobook
Cover of The List of Suspicious Things by Jennie Godfrey

8. The List of Suspicious Things

By: Jennie Godfrey

4.29

Format: 464 pages, Hardcover

'What if we decided to try and find him?' 'What on earth are you on about?' she said. 'How are w… read more

Similar categories in Jennie Godfrey's The List of Suspicious Things book and Diane Setterfield's Once Upon a River

  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • mystery
  • audiobook
Cover of The Familiars by Stacey Halls

9. The Familiars

By: Stacey Halls

3.88

Format: 420 pages, Hardcover

Young Fleetwood Shuttleworth, a noblewoman, is with child again. None of her previous pregnancies h… read more

Similar categories in Stacey Halls's The Familiars book and Diane Setterfield's Once Upon a River

  • british literature
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • adult
  • fantasy
  • audiobook
"Loyalty is earned, not demanded."

-Stacey Halls, The Familiars

"Respect is earned, not demanded."

-Stacey Halls, The Familiars

"Si el diablo es pobreza, hambre y dolor, entonces sí, creo que lo conocen."

-Stacey Halls, The Familiars

"Egy leánygyermek élete ugyanaz, mint egy feleségé – épp csak egy másik férfi mondja meg, mit csinálj."

-Stacey Halls, The Familiars

Cover of North Woods by Daniel       Mason

10. North Woods

By: Daniel Mason

4.15

Format: 372 pages, Hardcover

A sweeping novel about a single house in the woods of New England, told through the lives of those … read more

Similar categories in Daniel Mason's North Woods book and Diane Setterfield's Once Upon a River

  • literary fiction
  • magical realism
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • adult
  • audiobook
Cover of The Household by Stacey Halls

11. The Household

By: Stacey Halls

3.94

Format: 400 pages, Kindle Edition

From the Sunday Times bestseller and winner of the Women's Prize Futures Award, the captivating, hi… read more

Similar categories in Stacey Halls's The Household book and Diane Setterfield's Once Upon a River

  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • mystery
  • adult
  • audiobook
Cover of The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O'Farrell

12. The Marriage Portrait

By: Maggie O'Farrell

4.01

Format: 355 pages, Hardcover

An alternative cover edition for this ISBN can be found here. The author of award-winning Hamnet… read more

Similar categories in Maggie O'Farrell's The Marriage Portrait book and Diane Setterfield's Once Upon a River

  • literary fiction
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • adult
  • audiobook
"May I keep this?"

-Maggie O'Farrell, The Marriage Portrait

"Was there no hope? the tigress seemed to be asking her. Will I always remain here? Will I never return home?"

-Maggie O'Farrell, The Marriage Portrait

"The animal was orange, burnished gold, fire made flesh; she was power and anger, she was vicious and exquisite;"

-Maggie O'Farrell, The Marriage Portrait

"Is it possible for a woman to be so unsettled in spirit that a child will have no hope of taking root within her?"

-Maggie O'Farrell, The Marriage Portrait

Cover of Weyward by Emilia Hart

13. Weyward

By: Emilia Hart

4.07

Format: 416 pages, Paperback

I am a Weyward, and wild inside. 2019: Under cover of darkness, Kate flees London for ramshackl… read more

Similar categories in Emilia Hart's Weyward book and Diane Setterfield's Once Upon a River

  • magical realism
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • adult
  • fantasy
  • audiobook
" Altha . A strange name. Soft and yet powerful. Like an incantation."

-Emilia Hart, Weyward

"It took skill, Violet thought, to make even your handwriting look angry"

-Emilia Hart, Weyward

"She named me Altha, after all. Not Alice, meaning noble woman, nor Agnes, lamb of God. Altha. Healer."

-Emilia Hart, Weyward

"I thought he loved me for myself. But you were right. To him I am but an animal, like those he hunts and puts on display"

-Emilia Hart, Weyward

Cover of Mrs England by Stacey Halls

14. Mrs England

By: Stacey Halls

3.91

Format: 424 pages, Hardcover

West Yorkshire, 1904. When newly graduated nurse Ruby May takes a position looking after the chi… read more

Similar categories in Stacey Halls's Mrs England book and Diane Setterfield's Once Upon a River

  • british literature
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • mystery
  • adult
  • audiobook
"I wondered if there was a word for homesickness not for a place but for people."

-Stacey Halls, Mrs England

"The room was so quiet I could hear my heart breaking, and it sounded like a daisy snapping at the stem."

-Stacey Halls, Mrs England

"sometimes,' I said, 'When people we love die, we have all sorts of thoughts to try to cope with it better. We try to imagine their last hours and what we might have done differently."

-Stacey Halls, Mrs England

"It made my spirits low, and when your spirits are low it's hard to see the point in anything. Nobody understood how I suffered. Everybody told me I was lucky to be alive, that it was a miracle. They …"

-Stacey Halls, Mrs England

Cover of The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

15. The Snow Child

By: Eowyn Ivey

4.00

Format: 423 pages, Kindle Edition

Alaska, 1920: a brutal place to homestead, and especially tough for recent arrivals Jack and Mabel.… read more

Similar categories in Eowyn Ivey's The Snow Child book and Diane Setterfield's Once Upon a River

  • literary fiction
  • magical realism
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • adult
  • fantasy
  • audiobook
"A boy trying out a man's language."

-Eowyn Ivey, The Snow Child

"Why was it always the woman's fate to pace and fret and wait?"

-Eowyn Ivey, The Snow Child

"Then he returned to Mabel and put his mouth to her ear. I'd never let anything happen to you. You know that, don't you?"

-Eowyn Ivey, The Snow Child

"It was as if she had reached into her own pocket and discovered a small pebble, as hard as a diamond, that she had forgotten belonged to her."

-Eowyn Ivey, The Snow Child

Cover of Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield

16. Once Upon a River

By: Diane Setterfield

3.95

Format: 464 pages, Hardcover

On a dark midwinter’s night in an ancient inn on the river Thames, an extraordinary event takes pla… read more

Similar categories in Diane Setterfield's Once Upon a River book and Diane Setterfield's Once Upon a River

  • literary fiction
  • magical realism
  • british literature
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • mystery
  • adult
  • fantasy
  • audiobook
"There must be more to stories than you think."

-Diane Setterfield, Once Upon a River

"A curtain was drawn back in every man's inner theater and their storytelling minds got to work."

-Diane Setterfield, Once Upon a River

"They think I am concealing my ugliness from them, when in truth it is their ugliness I am hiding."

-Diane Setterfield, Once Upon a River

"A child is not an empty vessel.... to be formed in whatever way the parent thinks fit. They are born with their own hearts and they cannot be made otherwise, no matter what love a man lavishes on the…"

-Diane Setterfield, Once Upon a River

Cover of The Foundling by Stacey Halls

17. The Foundling

By: Stacey Halls

3.99

Format: 400 pages, ebook

London, 1754. Six years after leaving her illegitimate daughter Clara at London's Foundling Hosp… read more

Similar categories in Stacey Halls's The Foundling book and Diane Setterfield's Once Upon a River

  • british literature
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • mystery
  • adult
  • fantasy
  • audiobook
"Waarom moesten we de kaarten die ons waren toebedeeld, klakkeloos accepteren?"

-Stacey Halls, The Foundling

"Mijn wereld was gekrompen tot de grootte van een walnoot. En toen was Daniel naar een van tante Cassandra's feestjes gekomen en had hij de noot gekraakt."

-Stacey Halls, The Foundling

Cover of The Binding by Bridget Collins

18. The Binding

By: Bridget Collins

3.86

Format: 437 pages, Hardcover

Books are dangerous things in Collins's alternate universe, a place vaguely reminiscent of 19th-cen… read more

Similar categories in Bridget Collins's The Binding book and Diane Setterfield's Once Upon a River

  • magical realism
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • fantasy
  • audiobook
"Memories,"

-Bridget Collins, The Binding

"I ran through air that held me back."

-Bridget Collins, The Binding

"We make books - we make beautiful books - out of love."

-Bridget Collins, The Binding

"the fear with elderly characters is the high likelihood of their death..."

-Bridget Collins, The Binding

Cover of The Lost Bookshop by Evie  Woods

19. The Lost Bookshop

By: Evie Woods

4.09

Format: 448 pages, ebook

The Keeper of Stories meets The Lost Apothecary in this evocative and charming novel full of myster… read more

Similar categories in Evie Woods's The Lost Bookshop book and Diane Setterfield's Once Upon a River

  • magical realism
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • mystery
  • fantasy
  • audiobook
Cover of The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow

20. The Ten Thousand Doors of January

By: Alix E. Harrow

4.03

Format: 374 pages, Hardcover

In a sprawling mansion filled with peculiar treasures, January Scaller is a curiosity herself. As t… read more

Similar categories in Alix E. Harrow's The Ten Thousand Doors of January book and Diane Setterfield's Once Upon a River

  • magical realism
  • historical
  • fiction
  • historical fiction
  • fantasy
  • audiobook
"Books are Doors and I wanted out."

-Alix E. Harrow, The Ten Thousand Doors of January

"Sometimes pain is too unavoidable, too necessary to feel."

-Alix E. Harrow, The Ten Thousand Doors of January

"Every story is a love story if you catch it at the right moment"

-Alix E. Harrow, The Ten Thousand Doors of January

"It isn’t pain or suffering that unmakes a person; it’s only time."

-Alix E. Harrow, The Ten Thousand Doors of January

Cover of The Thirteenth Tale [13TH TALE] [Paperback] by DianeSetterfield

21. The Thirteenth Tale [13TH TALE] [Paperback]

By: DianeSetterfield

4.14

Format: None pages, Paperback

None read more

Similar categories in DianeSetterfield's The Thirteenth Tale [13TH TALE] [Paperback] book and Diane Setterfield's Once Upon a River

18 must-read fiction books like Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield

Transform Your Habits

Homecoming

Kate Morton

4.07

Transform Your Habits

The Frozen River

Ariel Lawhon

4.43

Transform Your Habits

Go as a River

Shelley Read

4.28

Transform Your Habits

Tom Lake

Ann Patchett

3.99

View all the books

20 Top fiction books like Go as a River by Shelley Read

Transform Your Habits

The Women

Kristin Hannah

4.64

Transform Your Habits

After Annie

Anna Quindlen

4.03

Transform Your Habits

The Berry Pickers

Amanda Peters

4.14

Transform Your Habits

First Lie Wins

Ashley Elston

4.05

View all the books

Never miss a story from us, get weekly updates in your inbox.