The House at Riverton: A Novel

The House at Riverton: A Novel
by Kate Morton

The House at Riverton: A Novel
List Price: $16.00
Our Price: $4.63
You Save: $11.37 (71%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $3.46 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions


or

Book Summary Information

Author: Kate Morton
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-03-03
ISBN: 1416550534
Number of pages: 496
Publisher: Washington Square Press

Book Reviews of The House at Riverton: A Novel

Book Review: Loved it
Summary: 5 Stars

This story was so amazing, I have no idea how anyone could create it! Once I started reading it, I couldn't put it down. Trust me when I tell you that I'm easily distracted, but not from this book. From the very beginning, it's full of secrets from the past, some that become known as you read. You'll find layer upon layer of mysteries, and it still keeps you guessing, about a couple of things, up to the very end. I also liked the fact that the story takes the reader through WWI, and the years after it. This story easily emphasizes the lasting effects that the war had on people. It also illustrates the definitive boundaries set by social classes. Very interesting. I loved every page of it. I'm actually kind of sad that I've finished it. I'm deterimined to read the rest of Kate Morton's books, I'm sure they'll be as good as this one.

Summary of The House at Riverton: A Novel

The House at Riverton is a gorgeous debut novel set in England between the wars. It is the story of an aristocratic family, a house, a mysterious death and a way of life that vanished forever, told in flashback by a woman who witnessed it all and kept a secret for decades.

Grace Bradley went to work at Riverton House as a servant when she was just a girl, before the First World War. For years her life was inextricably tied up with the Hartford family, most particularly the two daughters, Hannah and Emmeline.

In the summer of 1924, at a glittering society party held at the house, a young poet shot himself. The only witnesses were Hannah and Emmeline and only they -- and Grace -- know the truth.

In 1999, when Grace is ninety-eight years old and living out her last days in a nursing home, she is visited by a young director who is making a film about the events of that summer. She takes Grace back to Riverton House and reawakens her memories. Told in flashback, this is the story of Grace's youth during the last days of Edwardian aristocratic privilege shattered by war, of the vibrant twenties and the changes she witnessed as an entire way of life vanished forever.

The novel is full of secrets -- some revealed, others hidden forever, reminiscent of the romantic suspense of Daphne du Maurier. It is also a meditation on memory, the devastation of war and a beautifully rendered window into a fascinating time in history.

Originally published to critical acclaim in Australia, already sold in ten countries and a #1 bestseller in England, The House at Riverton is a vivid, page-turning novel of suspense and passion, with characters -- and an ending -- the reader won't soon forget.


Amazon Best of the Month, April 2008: In her cinematic debut novel, Kate Morton immerses readers in the dramas of the Ashbury family at their crumbling English country estate in the years surrounding World War I, an age when Edwardian civility, shaken by war, unravels into the roaring Twenties. Grace came to serve in the house as a girl. She left as a young woman, after the presumed suicide of a famous young poet at the property's lake. Though she has dutifully kept the family's secrets for decades, memories flood back in the twilight of her life when a young filmmaker comes calling with questions about how the poet really died--and why the Ashbury sisters never again spoke to each other afterward. With beautifully crafted prose, Morton methodically reveals how passion and fate transpired that night at the lake, with truly shocking results. Her final revelation at the story's close packs a satisfying (and not overly sentimental) emotional punch. --Mari Malcolm

Family Saga Books

Book Subjects
Most talked about in Family Saga Books
A Woman of Substance ImageA Woman of Substance
by Barbara Taylor Bradford
St. Martin's Paperbacks; Published: 2005-08-30; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.86
Price in other shops: $7.99
This Bitter Earth ImageThis Bitter Earth
by Bernice McFadden
Plume; Published: 2002-12-31; Kindle Edition; eBooks
Price in other shops: $15.00
The Clan of the Cave Bear/The Valley of Horses/The Mammoth Hunters [Box Set] ImageThe Clan of the Cave Bear/ The Valley of Horses/ The Mammoth Hunters [Box Set]
by Jean M. Auel
Crown; Published: 1986-10-06; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $133.68
Roseflower Creek: A Novel ImageRoseflower Creek: A Novel
by J. L. Miles
Cumberland House; Published: 2003-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $12.95
Whale Song ImageWhale Song
by Cheryl Kaye Tardif
Trafford Publishing; Published: 2003-09-14; Paperback; Book
Price in other shops: $22.50
The Long Ships ImageThe Long Ships
by Frans G. Bengtsson
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd; Published: 2002-08-19; Paperback; Book
The Warmest December ImageThe Warmest December
by Bernice L. McFadden
Plume; Published: 2002-12-31; Paperback; Book
Best price: $23.10
Halo: First Strike ImageHalo: First Strike
by Eric Nylund
Tantor Media; Published: 2008-07-15; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $46.31
Price in other shops: $69.99
The Brothers K ImageThe Brothers K
by David James Duncan
Dial Press Trade Paperback; Published: 1996-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.94
Price in other shops: $17.00
Ride the Wind ImageRide the Wind
by Lucia St Clair Robson
Ballantine Books; Published: 1985-11-12; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.76
Price in other shops: $7.99
Similar Books and other products
Learning to Breathe ImageLearning to Breathe
by Karen White
NAL Trade; Published: 2007-03-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.00
Price in other shops: $14.00
On Folly Beach ImageOn Folly Beach
by Karen White
NAL Trade; Published: 2010-05-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.66
Price in other shops: $15.00
The Girl On Legare Street (Tradd Street) ImageThe Girl On Legare Street (Tradd Street)
by Karen White
NAL Trade; Published: 2009-11-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.98
Price in other shops: $15.00
The Memory of Water ImageThe Memory of Water
by Karen White
NAL Trade; Published: 2008-03-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.93
Price in other shops: $14.00
The Thirteenth Tale: A Novel ImageThe Thirteenth Tale: A Novel
by Diane Setterfield
Washington Square Press; Published: 2007-10-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.47
Price in other shops: $16.00
Grange House: A Novel ImageGrange House: A Novel
by Sarah Blake
Picador; Published: 2001-06-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.41
Price in other shops: $15.00
The House on Tradd Street ImageThe House on Tradd Street
by Karen White
NAL Trade; Published: 2008-11-04; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.00
Price in other shops: $14.00
The Lost Hours ImageThe Lost Hours
by Karen White
NAL Trade; Published: 2009-04-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.01
Price in other shops: $15.00
The Forgotten Garden: A Novel ImageThe Forgotten Garden: A Novel
by Kate Morton
Washington Square Press; Published: 2010-02-16; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.37
Price in other shops: $15.00
The Distant Hours: A Novel ImageThe Distant Hours: A Novel
by Kate Morton
Atria; Published: 2010-11-09; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $17.16
Price in other shops: $26.00