The House at Riverton

Author/Guide: Kate Morton

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1905, 1924, 1999: A glittering party ends in suicide and a secret which ripples across the years.

ISBN: 978-0330448444
Genre: Historical, Mystery

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What you need to know before your trail

The house at Riverton is hosting a large society party and as everyone is celebrating, the wine flowing, the fireworks lighting up the sky, a young poet commits suicide in the garden. Only sisters Emmeline and Hannah witness the event and vow never to speak of it again, nor speak to each other. What happened to cause two sisters to remain silent?

In 1999, a young film director curious to find out what happened about the poet, gets in contact with Grace Bradley, now 98, a once time housemaid at Riverton Manor. She has secrets she vowed never to tell, ghosts she vowed never to wake but now maybe history has caught up with them all.

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Travel Guide

Riverton Manor is a grand old house with a beautiful lake and gardens. A summer house and the space to read and relax in its grounds. Emmeline and Hannah are privileged and enjoy their carefree lives.

The story told by Grace has the feel of the Titanic story when one lady, witness to the history and secrets of the past, reveals its secrets gradually and carefully, worried about raking things all up again. The story delves back into the Edwardian Era and the flashbacks with letters and tapes recreate a forgotten mystery for some and a recent memory for Grace. As you peel back the wrappers around the secret with Grace, you see and remember as she does. The effect is immediate and powerful.

Grace is old, slipping away with her secrets so the tension ramps up with the weight of history and the secrets pulling her down. Her life at the house, waiting on the family reveals the lifestyles of those upstairs and down. Grace has been loyal to the end and her character traits are enviable. There is a butterfly effect in history – one moment can change the course of events for ever.

This journey through history and war and a privileged home show a house where servants were the norm, where a grand manor and parties entertained those who could afford it, and where the world was changing, where women could choose their own destinies..

Booktrailer Review

Susan @thebooktrailer

Riverton Manor – I wish this house was real. I feel I’ve seen it, lived in it and felt all the emotions of the sisters too. It was so many stories in one – the upstairs downstairs relations, the life of two sisters wanting to make their own way in the world and the confines of their gilded cage. What happened that night? I was really keen to find out and the whole mystery is set up at the beginning so the reveals of Grace come slowly and surely. I really warmed to her – like the lady in the Titanic film you could sense these memories pained her. The house was stunning and I felt fully immersed in the time and period. More of a character driven novel than anything else – one where secrets and servants were the two things that ran the house. I loved spending time in Riverton and Kate Morton is definitely an author I’m going to enjoy reading more of.