Goodreads Mobile | see what your friends are reading

Dec 17, 2009

Laura rated it:

The House at Riverton tells the story of a Manor House in Essex during WW1 and the beginning of the 1920s, told from the perspective of a housemaid, now 98 and living in an old people's home in 1999. When she finds out that a film is being made of a tragic event at the house - the suicide of a young poet who fought in the war - she recounts her memories leading up to that night, and the part she played in it.
Of course, the story is not as simple as that, and many secrets have been kept for More...

5 comments like (21 people liked it)

Dec 18, 2008

JoLee rated it:

I wanted to read this book because it looked as if it had a lot of elements I really enjoy: Gothic type mystery, haunted house, family secrets, World War I, the 1920s. The book concerns sisters Hannah and Emmeline Hartford, aristocratic children who grow up over the course of the book. They chafe at the constraints of their class and find themselves floundering in the chaos of the 1920s. The other main character in the book is the narrator Grace, a housemaid at Riverton. She has her own uniq More...

0 comments like (14 people liked it)

Dec 22, 2011

Elizabeth rated it:

I probably would have enjoyed Kate Morton's debut novel The House at Riverton more if I had not already experienced the greater expression of her writing talent in The Forgotten Garden. Riverton shares many of the themes of her later work, but with the narrator at a greater remove from the focus of the story, it tends to make her characterizations a bit flat. The story of the Hartford family, focused on the sisters Hannah and Emmeline are told by Grace, a servant to the family for many years. He More...

1 comment like (8 people liked it)

Dec 15, 2008

Hope rated it:

An enjoyable story and a beautiful historical setting marred by clumsy story telling, overbearing foreshadowing, and an emotional disconnect with characters.

4 comments like (15 people liked it)

Nov 11, 2008

Sandie rated it:

This book is a must read for lovers of historical novels and enthralling, well-written, atmospheric mysteries, The House at Riverton is a literary feast for those who love writers like Margaret Atwood, Ian McEwan or Daphne DuMaurier and books reminiscent of The Forsythe Saga, Upstairs,Downstairs and Water for Elephants.

In this page-turner of a novel, beautifully written and evocative of the era in England prior to and after World War 1, the author succeeds in weaving a complex tale More...

3 comments like (14 people liked it)

Mar 16, 2009

Laura rated it:

I had such high hopes! Our heroine, Grace, now a feisty but failing 98, spent her early life at Riverton House in the service of the Ashbury family...and then spent her adult life trying to forget about them. However, she's contacted by a filmmaker about the mysterious suicide of a World War I poet that occurred at the estate back in 1924. Is the set of the Riverton drawing room accurate? What was it like being a housemaid? Does Grace have any insight into the circumstances of the suicide? Why More...

4 comments like (10 people liked it)

Oct 10, 2010

Lavinia rated it:

The best thing about this novel is that it has huge cinematographic potential; it belongs to that wonderful category that includes films like "Howards End", "Maurice", "The Remains of the Day" or "Gosford Park" (shamefully, I haven’t read any of the books).

The writing in itself isn’t spectacular, though the story is good. Nice characters, nice setting, interesting plot. I wish the writer hadn’t told us beforehand what to expect at the end, thou More...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Nov 02, 2008

Betty rated it:

This book is a gently-told narrative that brings the reader into the Edwardian period and takes us right through into the 1920s, with all its changes in society and mores. Living through the eyes of Grace, our narrator at the age of 98, the story comes alive. It is 1999 and her memories are awakened by Ursula, whose project is to tell the story of the House at Riverton to be featured in a film, reflecting on the historical significance of the family and household. Grace agrees to be interviewed More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Nov 03, 2008

Meagan rated it:

I am loosely giving this book four stars but it is my own fault that I did not enjoy it more. I happened to read the last page-something I generally try to avoid- and it completely mislead me. I kept expecting some dramatic twist to explain how everything wrapped up to be the happily ever after ending I had envisioned due to my fatal reading error. I was left a little dumbstruck when I realized how I had misinterpreted the ending. So note to anyone who reads this: don't read the ending at an More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Apr 02, 2009

Vanessa rated it:

Wonderful characters, setting, plot, I can't say enough. I was pleased that I was unable to guess the truth behind the secret at the end of the novel. I was surprised at the end which makes a work that much better in my mind. If you enjoyed Water For Elephants or The 13th Tale, you will like this work. A woman, from modern times, is in a nursing home and circumstances require her to remember her early years as a serving girl in a wealthy, British home during the WWI era. The author drifts b More...

1 comment like (4 people liked it)

Nov 23, 2009

Alice rated it:

Hmmm... Very readable, moving at times, and full of suspense. However, some slightly irritating traits, ie. 'non-Englishisms'
Kate Morton talks about 'Morning Tea', English people never, ever have this!! It's Afternoon Tea! There are many more inacuracies throughout the book, which are annoying because it does detract from the overall quality of the story.

Also, the 'mystery' behind Grace's father is dazzlingly clear from virtually the first page, and the final conclusion is also More...

3 comments like (3 people liked it)

Aug 23, 2008

Kate rated it:

I wanted to like this. High drama and love triangles at the country estate of a rich family during the Edwardian era -- all ending in the famous suicide on the family estate of a post-war poet. What could go wrong? Well, as it turns out, it could feel like a cobbled-together collection of Upstairs-Downstairs stereotypes, played-out female character archetypes, and plot twists and sub-plots that, after lots of set-up, amount to very little. Also, the book is told in flashbacks, and there were st More...

0 comments like (8 people liked it)

Jun 24, 2011

Michelle added it

Having enjoyed The Forgotten Garden as much as I did, I was eagerly anticipating delving into Kate Morton's detailed image of the English gentry during the turn of the century, otherwise known as The House at Riverton. Unfortunately, the fact that The House at Riverton was her first novel is very apparent in some of the inconsistencies among the characters and general predictability of the overall plot. Still enjoyable, it is just not as strong as her follow-up novels.

The biggest iss More...

0 comments like

Jan 30, 2012

Katharine rated it:

A friend of mine recommended Kate Morton, but the only novel of hers available at my library was The House at Riverton. I didn't realize when I checked it out that it was Morton's first work. In this case, inexperience shows.

I prefer character-driven novels, but I do love a good mystery. However, if your plot is going to be the driving force, rather than the characters, it needs to be pretty darn spellbinding to keep my attention. And if the characters are going to be the main focus, More...

1 comment like

Jan 10, 2012

Jennefer rated it:

My first experience with this author, Kate Morton was through The Forgotten Garden. If 10 stars were available to give that would be my rating because I absolutely LOVED that novel. After completing that book I had to seek out more novels written by this author. I tried not to get my hopes up as I knew I wouldn't like another book as much as that one but at any rate I was led to The House at Riverton. This book was written prior to The Forgotten Garden and in my opinion it was not as fabulous More...

0 comments like

Dec 12, 2011

Elaine rated it:

An English manor. Lower aristocracy. A 14 year old maid who feels privileged to clean for this family for 14 hours a day. Add a ghost, an unmarried gruff master who falls in love with the governess and this would be just another hackneyed English novel. No, there is neither a ghost nor a gruff master, and only an insignificant governess.

It is to Kate Morton's credit that she plowed through such overworked plots and came up with an interesting, in places unusual, story.

Unfort More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Nov 29, 2011

Karen rated it:

Kate Morton has a talent for capturing the messiness, the reality of humanity, and weaving it into a tale with just enough mystery to hold me spellbound.

I finished this book last night and couldn't sleep for a while, thinking about the ending. You fall in love with Grace during the book. You are with her as an old old lady and as a young lady as she flashes back to memories. You come to care about her, to understand her motivations and loyalties. And then, the end of the book comes, an More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 19, 2011

Jeanette rated it:

3 1/2 stars

This is not too bad if you're looking for a fairly in-depth romance/mystery combination. It goes into quite a lot of detail about the moneyed classes and their household servants in England in the early 20th century. So many families were torn apart and so many lives painfully altered by World War I.

I might have gone with four stars except that it's longer than it needs to be. That seems to be Kate Morton's style. Lots and lots of detail about domestic life. I also More...

4 comments like (3 people liked it)

Nov 06, 2011

Jane rated it:

This book started off really well, immediately capturing my attention with the mystery of the 1920's suicide of a poet linked in love to two sisters. We are gradually told the story by one of their maids, now in her nineties. Her tale is full of behind the scenes insight into how a big house ran in this era, reminiscent of Gosford park, and her writing is at first much in the romantic style of dreams of Dauphne Du Maurier. However, I couldn't help but think she was forcing a 21st century min More...

0 comments like

Oct 07, 2011

Paul rated it:

An easy and entertaining read; this one has already been reviewed to death. I read it because I am interested in the period and subject matter.
The story is told in flashback by an ex housemaid (Grace) who is in her late nineties. It involves a stately home (Riverton) and two sisters Hannah and Emmeline and their family who own Riverton. It spans the period just before and after the First World War and has romance, shell shock, a handsome poet, loss, rivalry, tragedy, terrible Americans, up More...

0 comments like

Oct 02, 2011

Janet rated it:

This story is told by Grace when she is in her late nineties and is living in a nursing home. Grace is the only living person connected to the Hartfords who lived in the house at Riverton. She started as a maid to the Hartfords in 1914 and continued until 1924 when a tragedy took the life of a young poet who had a long and complicated connection to the family. The poet apparently achieved some fame because a movie is being made about him and Riverton and his death - a director visits Grace to More...

0 comments like

Sep 18, 2011

Amy rated it:

If you are eagerly waiting for the second season of Downton Abbey on PBS, The House at Riverton by Kate Morton is the perfect book for you. The novel opens in 1999 when Grace Bradley, the narrator who is ninety-eight years old, is approached by a film maker who is interested in Grace’s memories of a tragic night in 1924 when a young poet took his life at the House at Riverton. Grace has been haunted by the fateful night, as well as her unwitting role in the events, and knows the real secret of More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 09, 2011

Laurie rated it:

I read The Forgotten Garden (TFG) probably about a year and a half before I picked this one and I totally loved it so I decided to get her first book.
This one follows the same sort of pattern as TFG with a story set in the past running alongside one set in the present until the collide in the end.
This novel was more clumsy but that's to be expected. She had more experience when she wrote the second one and possibly more editing too. The pace of The House at Riverton (THaR) was a bit More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 26, 2011

Jann rated it:

I almost gave this five stars, but there were a few events in the story that seemed so obvious to me, yet Grace had no clue.

I loved the format, the characters and the multiple twists. I realized that on several occasions, a twist or important piece of information would be given in a sentence that may be overlooked if you read too quickly.

The book begins in 1999, when Grace is 99 years old and each day brings her closer to her death. A young woman has contacted her, wishing to More...

0 comments like

Jul 22, 2011

Molly rated it:

Ok, so, again, Brit Lit...I LOVE Brit (and Irish) Lit. LOVE LOVE LOVE it. I don't know if it comes from being 50% British (grandmother was a British war bride, grandfather's parents were straight off the boat English...I have visited and felt that England was my true home, etc), or just the way that British novelists write, I just love it. And Kate Morton???? LOVE HER! You will see that I do (I have read all three of her books and am eagerly anticipating her next book!), when I post about the ot More...

0 comments like

Jul 11, 2011

Aub rated it:

i was surprised by how much i liked this book. i picked it up because nicci had suggested "the forgotten garden" but i haven't been able to find that one available yet, so i just wanted something by the same author. some aspects of the book were very predictable, but i didn't find myself annoyed that i figured things out so easily; i wonder if she intended the reader to discover secrets more easily than the narrator. also, you pretty much know the end of the story from the very begin More...

1 comment like

Jul 07, 2011

Krystal rated it:

This gem was like Gosford Park meets Water for Elephants, and I loved every bit of it. I only had one complaint and it was entirely about the layout of the book, nothing to do with the content. The very last page of the book, a very dramatic and good way to end the story, is followed immediately by the author’s acknowledgments. I finished reading the end of the story and continued immediately to the next page because it looked just like another chapter. Unfortunately, it was not. It disrupted th More...

0 comments like

Jun 18, 2011

Britni rated it:

I was an English major in college and one of my favorite classes was contemporary literature. I think we read five or six different novels that semester including Atonement, Possession, Waterland, and Blackwater Lightship. There was something about every single one of those books that made me think or changed the way I looked at the book. I fell in love with contemporary literature and haven't gotten into a lot of it since I graduated.

Until I read Kate Morton's book. The book reminded More...

0 comments like

Apr 13, 2011

Leah rated it:

Her first book. It is everything a gothic romance should be without any of the cheesy plots and predictable outcomes. Her descriptive writing is very poetic. Her style of going between not only characters, but the past and present is at first a little hard to follow, but you get sucked right in. Morton must of been close to at least one of her grandmothers because she describes what goes on in the mind and in the heart of the elderly so well, and realistically. This book is all about secrets, an More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 27, 2011

Holly rated it:

An English estate. A mysterious death. A deceptive dance between two sisters. All fodder for a great romantic mystery.

Grace Bradley is a housemaid at the English country estate of Riverton during her youth and serves two of its residents, sisters Hannah and Emmeline. This part of the novel spans the years of 1914 to 1924 in Essex and London. Alternately, we see Grace as an old woman, asked to advise on a film being made about Riverton.

Kate Morton slowly reels you in. This More...

0 comments like

reviews