Review for The House at Riverton

An amazing book. The ending left me in shock, I reread the last sentence for at least 10 minutes.

At first I found the book's pace quite sleepy, and the 600 pages were quite daunting. However I'd read another book by the same author and loved it, so I threw myself into it.

Grace Bradley is ninety nine years old. She lives by herself but is rarely actually by her self, her personal carer Sylvia attends to her all the time, and Grace's daughter Ruth also looks after her.

Grace Bradley,  was a maid at Riverton Manor during the 1920s. Now a film is being made about a famous incident at Riverton when a well-known poet, Robbie Hunter, shot himself, an event witnessed by Grace, and by the Hartford sisters that caused them never to speak to each other again. Grace is contacted by the director, Ursula, as the only surviving person from that night. 


But Grace has a secret. A secret she has not told anyone.

The book is full of secrets. It shows how boredom has such power.  It shows how love and lust can be so strong it has the energy to tear everything apart.

I recommend this book. The author has such an amazing writing style, some of the descriptions will leave you breathless. Kate Morton effortlessly manages to draw suspense and tension into the novel, so that at first you do not notice it, until all of a sudden, it hits you. Then you know what is at stake for the Hartford sisters and Grace.