The House at Riverton by Kate Morton

This is a lovely book, and because of its length, it's the sort of book that becomes a companion for a few days and allows the reader to gently drift away to another world.

It's the same trope as the film Titanic, in that it begins with a very old lady who finds herself transported back to her youth after others start taking an interest in a time in her history that still holds some secrets.

It begins as the Queen Victoria dies and young teen, Grace Bradley, is sent by her mother to work in service for the wealthy owners of the Riverton estate. If you like stories set in the era of the film Gosford Park or the series Downton Abbey, then this will be right up your street. The writing fully evokes the social structure of the Edwardian era and the key characters span every rung of the ladder from the landed gentry right down to poor Katie the scullery maid.

Grace starts her employment as a general maid and has to learn everything from how to set a fire to helping prepare food for a banquet. There is plenty of detail to set the scene and you can almost feel the silk of the fine dresses and see the candle-light glinting off the crystal glasses in the dining room. Life seems ordered and predictable up until the outbreak of war in 1918 when the young men have to go off to fight and nothing is ever the same again.

Grace is in the house as the children grow up and she is particularly close to three children who are not so far removed from her own age as she began her life in service at fourteen. The family are usually blind to the servants going about their work, but one day Grace covers for the children after they hide from their governess, and that day marks a change in the way they see her.

As an old lady, Grace continually drops hints that the accepted history of the Hartford family is not exactly as has been recorded over the years. Gradually through the story of her life the reader comes to know what she knows, and most crucially at the end, we learn the most important thing that even she didn't know until it was too late!

There are some wonderful twists to the story, and some you can start to sense as you go along, but not all of them and the final chapter is the clincher. I really enjoyed reading this one and it is one of those books that you immediately miss as you turn the last page.

Comments

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