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The House at Riverton by Kate Morton (view source)
Revision as of 16:18, 29 August 2020
, 16:18, 29 August 2020no edit summary
When I was fifty or sixty pages in to this book someone asked me if I was enjoying it. 'It's interesting' I said 'but a little slow to get going'. Grace went to Riverton just before the outbreak of the First World War and there, in exquisite detail, is the picture of the house, of society, of a country on the eve of war and monumental change. Men from Riverton will die in the war but this will bring Grace into contact with the Hartfords. Socially they're from very different backgrounds but they're much of an age and Grace feel herself drawn to them and particularly to Hannah, the elder sister.
By the time I was a hundred pages into the book I couldn't put it down. Grace's memories are slowly drawn out - against her will - and told in a series of flashbacks. Flashbacks are not easy for an author to do well. All too often they muddle and confuse, but here they're handled with astonishing assurance particularly for a debut novel. I never had any doubts about timescale and the two voices of Grace are quite distinct - the nervous housemaid, reluctant to leave her ailing mother, uncertain of her own background and the aging ageing woman who has led a full life but held on to her secrets.
Few novels are as well-researched as ''The House at Riverton''. There's a bibliography that would put many a non-fiction book to shame and in consequence the book has a rich background. There's a feeling that the author knew more, far more than she has mentioned - unlike many period novels where it's difficult to escape the conclusion that every known fact has been mined for all it's worth. It's wide ranging too - I shivered with the house maids through the winter nights and drooled at the food the cooks produced in the big houses. I felt the yawning gulf between the different levels of society. Splendid stuff.