The House at Riverton by Kate Morton

Genre: Fiction
Publication Date: 2008 (U.S. publication date)
Pages: 468
Challenges: A-Z Reading #8 (H Title)

From the back cover:

Grace Bradley went to work at Riverton House as a servant when she was just a girl, before the First World War. For years her life was inextricably tied up with the Hartford family, most particularly the two daughters, Hannah and Emmeline.

In the summer of 1924, at a glittering society party held at the house, a young poet shot himself. The only witnesses were Hannah and Emmeline and only they -- and Grace -- know the truth.

In 1999, when Grace is ninety-eight years old and living out her last days in a nursing home, she is visited by a young director who is making a film about the events of that summer. She takes Grace back to Riverton House and reawakens her memories. Told in flashback, this is the story of Grace's youth during the last days of Edwardian aristocratic privilege shattered by war, of the vibrant twenties and the changes she witnessed as an entire way of life vanished forever.

The novel is full of secrets -- some revealed, others hidden forever, reminiscent of the romantic suspense of Daphne du Maurier. It is also a meditation on memory, the devastation of war and a beautifully rendered window into a fascinating time in history.

I hadn’t planned on reading this book so soon, but I was selected to read and review it for Bookbrowse, so when they sent me the ARC, it went to next on the list.

This book is reminiscent of The Thirteenth Tale in some ways. It’s told in flashback by an elderly woman, sisters (one named Emmeline) are part of the story, the setting is in an old family house, and many secrets are gradually revealed. That said, it’s also very different from The Thirteenth Tale. Yes, it’s a story about a family and their servants, but it’s so much more. It’s a story of the time. England during and after World War I was a country and society in the midst of change. The concept of “Duty” is a theme throughout the book – The household staff and their duty to the family they work for, the duty to family and country that crossed all class levels. The impact of the war on the families who lost sons and fathers as well as the survivors who came home forever altered by their wartime experiences is as much a part of this book as the primary story.

Because it’s told in flashback, the reader knows some of what happened right away, but how and why is doled out in pieces as Grace (the former housemaid and lady’s maid) tells her story and that of the occupants of The House at Riverton. Some of the mysteries are easy to figure out and no surprise when revealed, other parts are revealed throughout the books with a few unexpected twists and turns.

It took me a while to really get into this one – probably more due to timing than anything in the book itself. All in all I really enjoyed this book and will be looking for more from this author in the future.