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 book has been sent to cestmoi of Ontario, Canada. I tagged her in the wishlist tag game with this book.

I hope that you enjoy this book, cestmoi.

Thank you so much for sending this to me. It's the only one of Kate Morton's books I haven't read yet so I am much looking forward to it.

The postcard with your lovely note made my day!

Of all three of Morton's novels, this is my favourite. The characters seem the most real life and I related to them more than I did with those in her other novels. Grace, a young housemaid, then lady's maid then an elderly woman is likable and interesting and so incredibly normal.

If you like Downton Abbey or Upstairs, Downstairs, then this is the novel for you.

Morton follows the story, through Grace's flashbacks as a 98 year old woman, of the Hartford family who live at Riverton House. Their loves, their heartbreaks, their sorrows, their failures and their triumphs and happiness all interwine with her own life. Grace's own life is just as full of secrets as the Hartford's although she learns the truth, it doesn't change her life or her loyalties.

I completely enjoyed this novel and would not have changed one single word. Thanks again to tabby-cat-owner for sending it to me.

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I’ve never seen the program Downton Abby but this is how I imagine it is. Lords and Ladies with secrets and loyal serving staff who keep the secrets.

This is a 3.5* book for me. Good in parts, excellent ending, but way too long to get to the good stuff. Almost 500 pages and the climax happens in the last 20. And the constant foreshadowing got tiresome after awhile.

I really liked the main character, Grace, both as a young woman and as an old woman. I wish there had been more about her life after Riverton. All the reader knows is that she is a ladies maid, and then she is an archeologist. How she got from A to B is not told. You’d think, in 500 pages, they could fit it in.

Still, while the pace was slow, the story itself was good. I liked the way it fluctuated between 90 year old Grace and 25 year old Grace. That worked well and there were some interesting resolutions to outstanding plot points added in for reading pleasure. I’d read this author again.