The House at Riverton

 By Kate Morton
My Rating: 4/5 Stars

Goodreads Synopsis:

Summer 1924

On the eve of a glittering society party, by the lake of a grand English country house, a young poet takes his life. The only witnesses, sisters Hannah and Emmeline Hartford, will never speak to each other again.

Winter 1999

Grace Bradley, ninety-eight, one-time housemaid of Riverton Manor, is visited by a young director making a film about the poet's suicide. Ghosts awaken and old memories - long consigned to the dark reaches of Grace's mind - begin to sneak back through the cracks. A shocking secret threatens to emerge, something history has forgotten but Grace never could.

Set as the war-shattered Edwardian summer surrenders to the decadent twenties, The House at Riverton is a thrilling mystery and a compelling love story.

My Thoughts: This is one book that I almost quite reading one hundred pages into it, and I am so happy that I sat through the beginning. It took me a long time to understand what was going on. The plot begins with a household maid, working at a young age for a wealthy English family. The plot continues from her perspective, but jumping in from the past to the present. At fist I had a difficult time jumping back and fourth out of time and then plunging back into it. However, once I became used to the awkward transitions, it was definitely worth the read.

This story has so many twists and turns. Every time I thought I had a prediction that was right, the story turned and I saw my prediction go down the drain. What kept me reading was that I wanted to know what happened to the characters. Each of the three children in the wealthy family had an interesting character and a place in the family. Hannah when from bossy and manipulative little sister to married woman not being in charge of her household. Sweet little Emmeline goes from an innocent child to a roaring 20's flapper. And when World War I hits, the entire family's role shifts due to the change in global politics. Watching those roles and characters shift and morph into new roles with new interests was addicting. The story was an epic tale of love, loss, and growth.

However, the last 150 pages were what sold this book for me. This book is sort of like the stories of Legends of the Fall and Gosford Park rolled into one. Then, change all the endings and when you think you have it figured out, you dump the idea down the drain and replace it with a more shattering idea. It was fabulous!