The House at Riverton

By: Kate Morton

Narrated by: Emilia Fox

Summer 1924: on the night of a glittering society party by the lake of a grand English country house, a young poet takes his life. The only witnesses are sisters Hannah and Emmeline Hartford, and they will never speak to each other again.

Winter 1999: Grace Bradley, 98, one-time housemaid of Riverton Manor, is visited by a young director making a film about the poet’s suicide. Ghosts awaken and memories, long consigned to the dark reaches of Grace’s mind, begin to sneak back through the cracks. A shocking secret threatens to emerge – something history has forgotten but Grace never could.

Set as the Edwardian summer finally surrenders to the decadent twenties, The House at Riverton is a multi-million-copy bestselling novel and one of the most successful debuts of all time.

2007, Australian Book Industry Award (ABIA) General Fiction Book of the Year, Winner

2008, Galaxy National Book Awards, Short-listed

2007, The Richard & Judy Best Read of the Year, Winner

2010, Nielsen Gold Book Award, Winner

Golden Pan Award, UK 1,000,000 copies sold, Winner

2009, Indie Next Outstanding Debut, Winner

©2006 Kate Morton (P)2023 Bolinda Publishing

Critic reviews

"Combines a rich historical setting with a powerful emotional drama – and a gripping mystery." (The Australian Women's Weekly)

"An extraordinary debut." (The Sunday Telegraph)

"A rollicking good yarn of the sort you might devour in a single weekend." (Vogue)

The house of Riverton

This was quite the interesting read it took me awhile to get into it.
Maybe I was just distracted

good story line

I disliked the American woman's voice; found it very grating as I assume I was supposed to. The reader was very good. I loved the story and ending.

Attention to historical details

I enjoy the attention to historical detail Grace lives a long life of secrets and promises

Stunning story and narration

Phenomenal experience listening to this novel by Kate Morton! Her characters are written with such depth. They are complicated, flawed, real, and compelling. Fell in love with Grace the protagonist and sisters Hannah and Emmeline. The male characters were mostly doomed by being in the company of female power and grit. Nobody else writes like Kate Morton.

Downton Abbey, extended episode

This book was not at all what I was expecting but as it resembled a very long episode at Downton (which I adore), I stuck with it. Grace and Hannah are very similar to Anna and Lady Mary (the narrator sounds almost identical to Mary when speaking Hannah's parts) and overall, with that as comparison, this made for an enjoyable listen. It's a rather undeveloped plot all on its own, though. The gothic mystery I was expecting was neither gothic nor mystery.