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The House At Riverton: Library Edition
 
 
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The House At Riverton: Library Edition [Audio CD]

Kate Morton (Author), Caroline Lee (Narrator)
4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (320 customer reviews)

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Book Description

April 30, 2008
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.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

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 --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. This debut page-turner from Australian Morton recounts the crumbling of a prominent British family as seen through the eyes of one of its servants. At 14, Grace Reeves leaves home to work for her mother's former employers at Riverton House. She is the same age as Hannah, the headstrong middle child who visits her uncle, Lord Ashbury, at Riverton House with her siblings Emmeline and David. Fascinated, Grace observes their comings and goings and, as an invisible maid, is privy to the secrets she will spend a lifetime pretending to forget. But when a filmmaker working on a movie about the family contacts a 98-year-old Grace to fact-check particulars, the memories come swirling back. The plot largely revolves around sisters Hannah and Emmeline, who were present when a family friend, the young poet R.S. Hunter, allegedly committed suicide at Riverton. Grace hints throughout the narrative that no one knows the real story, and as she chronicles Hannah's schemes to have her own life and the curdling of younger Emmeline's jealousy, the truth about the poet's death is revealed. Morton triumphs with a riveting plot, a touching but tense love story and a haunting ending. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

  • Audio CD
  • Publisher: Bolinda Audio; Unabridged edition (April 30, 2008)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 192133486X
  • ISBN-13: 978-1921334863
  • Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 6.8 x 1.1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (320 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,966,602 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Kate Morton, a native Australian, holds degrees in dramatic art and English literature and is currently a doctoral candidate at the University of Queensland. She lives with her family in Brisbane, Australia, and is writing her third novel.

 

Customer Reviews

320 Reviews
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 (165)
4 star:
 (81)
3 star:
 (38)
2 star:
 (21)
1 star:
 (15)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.1 out of 5 stars (320 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

264 of 276 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars I loved this book, March 17, 2008
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
In 1914, fourteen-year old Grace came to Riverton Manor as a housemaid. There she met the Master's grandchildren, whose lives would forever be linked with her own. Now 98, Grace looks back at those early years of duty, selflessness, and silence.

To give away more of the plot would be to rob other readers of the sublime delight I found in reading this book. It is told through the eyes of an old lady who has known great sorrow and some joy, who has seen Edwardian society give way to hard rock and managed to adapt to it all with wisdom and humor. The story paints a vivid picture of life among the idle rich before and after the first War, how carefree children became conflicted adults, and how passion erupted in gunfire one grand summer night.

The author has written such a wonderful story I sobbed through the last chapters, not wanting it to end. It would make a great movie - it's powerful, dramatic, and heartbreaking, equal parts of mystery, romance, and history - and is the best book I've read in a long time.
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99 of 104 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Deliciously Engrossing!, February 4, 2008
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
The first two lines of "The House at Riverton" by Kate Morton, are an homage to "Rebecca" and then the novel is reminiscent of "Remains of the Day", "Gosford Park", "The Great Gatsby" and other gothic and romantic novels...all acknowledged by the author in the Afterward. All this makes Morton's first novel deliciously readable, engrossing and fun. She takes the tried and true literary motif of an elderly woman, Grace, recounting the story of her life with heavy hints at a few gothic secrets to be revealed in due course. And it works beautifully! I used to love reading these kinds of stories when I was young; who didn't? Thus it was a wonderful treat to find this gem of a novel which completely captivated me for several days. Yes, one can have a first person narrator who is also omniscient when she is a servant; ubiquitous yet silent, hearing and seeing almost all.

I won't recount the plot or slip in any spoilers, but I want to make note of what a wonderful job Morton does of depicting the unraveling of the constricting social mores after WWI, especially for women and for the service class as they shed the oppression of the Victorian age and entered the "Roaring 20s" with its bohemian and jazzy style.

There are the usual and expected "errors of birth" that we won't be terribly surprised by...we know some secrets before Grace figures them out herself, but one is saved for the end and nicely slipped in.

"The House at Riverton" has been a best seller in England and Morton's homeland, Australia, and I can understand why; I expect it will do very well here in the US, too, as we are endlessly fascinated by tales of British high society and all the intricacies of the upstairs/downstairs ways of life. I will anxiously await Morton's next novel!
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66 of 68 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Upstairs/Downstairs Charm and Haunting Mystery Combine for Compelling Novel, May 20, 2008
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It's hard to believe this magnificent novel is a first effort by Kate Morton. I will certainly be looking forward to her future work, as this is a well-crafted narrative that exposes a story from the past through the remembrances of ninety-eight-year-old Grace Bradley.

A scandalous tragedy at a lavish English party in 1924 is about to be made into a movie and, as the last surviving person from the event, Grace is interviewed by a dedicated young filmmaker. The filmmaker wants to be clear on all details of a young poet's suicide and present an accurate portrayal. Only Grace knows that history in not correct and what everyone thinks happened did not happen at all. She has kept the secret for over 70 years and it has haunted her memory.

Morton does a masterful job of taking the reader into the lives of the idle rich, the servants who are devoted to them, and the secret liaisons that connect the two classes in forbidden ways. The conflict between desire and possibility is played out generation after generation.

The unreliability of accepted facts, the haunting of the present by the past, and the inescapability of inherited social standing determining one's fate all combine for a searing story I could not put down.

The characters are wonderfully three-dimensional, the plot well-paced and highly believable, the explosive conclusion well worth the time invested. I cannot recommend this one highly enough and can only hope Kate Morton continues to gift us with her talent for storytelling.
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Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
The House, Lady Clementine, Lady Violet, Lord Ashbury, Lord Gifford, The Game, Miss Starling, Hannah's Story, Miss Hannah, Miss Prince, Nanny Brown, Robbie Hunter, Lucy Starling, The Fall of Icarus, The Dinner, Lady Ashbury, New York, Miss Emmeline, Riverton Hannah, Riverton Revisited, Suitable Husband, Theodore Luxton, The Choice, The Tape, The Twelfth of July
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Grace / Alfred **spoiler** 0 8 days ago
Ending -*Spoiler* 8 8 days ago
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Historical Inaccuracy- SPOILERS 6 Dec 18, 2010
Mystery? 2 Dec 18, 2010
love this era! 2 Dec 15, 2010
Mystery? 0 Jun 7, 2010
Clean? 5 Mar 12, 2009
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