The House at Riverton

This is a substantial audiobook with 16 CD’s and 19 hours of listening.  It spans 100 years of a woman’s life from childhood to old age, and we are treated to a firsthand account of how the world changed over a century.  The main character Grace starts out as a fourteen year old house maid in England.  We get to experience firsthand what life was like during the two World Wars and how they changed the lives of people all over the world from all economic and social classes. 

The story unfolds as Grace is approached by a young screenwriter who is making a movie based on the affluent family Grace worked for as young woman.  She is particularly interested in the relationship Grace had and observed with the two sisters in the family, and what she may know about the mysterious young poet said to have taken his own life one summer night.  What really happened to that young man?  Was it really suicide or something much more sinister?   As Grace reveals her story we come to know and love the family as well as the other servants who live and work at the Riverton Manor.

This is the first book I’ve listened to or read by Kate Morton, and as it turns out this is her debut novel.  Read by Caroline Lee, this novel will surely ignite the memory of young love and whimsy in even the most cynical of listeners.

A.E.N.