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Atria/Emily Bestler Books
December 2018
On Sale: December 4, 2018
480 pages ISBN: 0743298071 EAN: 9780743298070 Kindle: B07D2ZZK6N Hardcover / e-Book
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Fiction Family Life | Literature and Fiction Literary
From the instant #1 New York Times bestselling
author of the “eerie and fascinating” (USA TODAY)
The Thirteenth Tale comes a richly imagined, powerful
new novel about the wrenching disappearance of three little
girls and the wide-reaching effect it has on their small
town. On a dark midwinter’s night in an ancient inn on the river
Thames, an extraordinary event takes place. The regulars are
telling stories to while away the dark hours, when the door
bursts open on a grievously wounded stranger. In his arms is
the lifeless body of a small child. Hours later, the girl
stirs, takes a breath and returns to life. Is it a miracle?
Is it magic? Or can science provide an explanation? These
questions have many answers, some of them quite dark indeed. Those who dwell on the river bank apply all their ingenuity
to solving the puzzle of the girl who died and lived again,
yet as the days pass the mystery only deepens. The child
herself is mute and unable to answer the essential
questions: Who is she? Where did she come from? And to whom
does she belong? But answers proliferate nonetheless. Three families are keen to claim her. A wealthy young mother
knows the girl is her kidnapped daughter, missing for
two years. A farming family reeling from the discovery of
their son’s secret liaison, stand ready to welcome their
granddaughter. The parson’s housekeeper, humble and
isolated, sees in the child the image of her younger sister.
But the return of a lost child is not without complications
and no matter how heartbreaking the past losses, no matter
how precious the child herself, this girl cannot be
everyone’s. Each family has mysteries of its own, and many
secrets must be revealed before the girl’s identity can be
known. Once Upon a River is a glorious tapestry of a book
that combines folklore and science, magic and myth.
Suspenseful, romantic, and richly atmospheric, the beginning
of this novel will sweep you away on a powerful current of
storytelling, transporting you through worlds both real and
imagined, to the triumphant conclusion whose depths will
continue to give up their treasures long after the last page
is turned.
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