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Description edit
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... read more
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit
Summary edit
Grace Bradley tells the story of her life at the age of 99 years old. She lived her young life in service to the Hartford family and denied herself personal pleasures to be loyal.
I loved how the story went back and forth from BEFORE to the PRESENT.
You will love the characters... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)
Characters/People edit
- Grace Reeves Bradley: Main Character...telling the story of her life as a servant and lady's maid.
- Mrs Hannah Luxton: Eldest Hartford sister; headstrong and independent.
- Emmeline Hartford: Youngest child of Frederick Hartford; Hannah's sister. Willful and a bit spoiled.
- David Hartford: Only son of Frederick Hartford; Hannah and Emmeline's sister.
- Robert "Robbie" Hunter: David Hartford's friend from school. Drops out of the Hartfords' lives for a while, but reappears as a grown man who has become a poet.
- Mr. Frederick Hartford: The second son of Lord Ashbury. Hannah and Emmeline's father
- Jonathan Hartford: Eldest Hartford son; war hero; also known as "Major Hartford."
- Jemima Hartford: Wife of Lord Ashbury's first-born son, Jonathan (Major Hartford).
- Lady Ashbury: Mother of Major Hartford and Mr. Frederick. Grandmother to David, Hannah and Emmeline.
- Mr. Hamilton: Butler at Riverton
- Mrs. Townsend: The cook at Riverton
- Alfred Steeple: A love interest of Grace who also works at Riverton
- Nancy: Servant at Riverton who trains Grace. When the war starts she begins to work outside of the house.
- Kate Morton: Scullery maid at Riverton
- Theodore "Teddy" Luxton: Son of wealthy banker Simion Luxton; becomes an important part of the Hartford family.
- Mr. Simion Luxton: Teddy's father
- Mrs Estella Luxton: Teddy's mother.
- Deborah Luxton: Teddy's sister.
- Ursula Ryan: Making a movie about Riverton; befriends Grace
- Ruth Bradley McCourt: Grace's daughter
- Sylvia: Grace's nurse at Heathview
- Clementine de Welton: Friend of Lady Ashbury
- Marcus McCourt: The grandson of Grace, he doesn't appear in the novel until the very end. Grace makes recordings of the events at Riverton for him to hear after she dies. He is a writer whose wife has recently died and he is in mourning for her.
- Harry Bentley: One of Emmeline's friends in London.
- Mr. Boyle: Butler at the Luxtons' London house.
- Mrs. Tibbit: Cook at the Luxtons' London house.
- Lord Gifford: The Hartford family lawyer.
- Lucy Starling: Frederick Hartford's secretary.
- Gytha Ashbury: Youngest child of Jonathan and Jemima Hartford
- Beryl: Docent guide at the modern Riverton House tour
- Fanny: Lady Clementine's charge
- Mr. Dudley: The gardener at Riverton
- Nanny Brown: Very elderly nanny to Lord Ashbury who is kept on in the house even though she doesn't perform her duties any more.
- Philippe: A french filmmaker
- Timothy Hartford: One of Jonathan and Jemima's sons.
- Keira Parker: Actress cast as the young Grace in Ursula's movie about Riverton.
- Nefertiti: Add a description of this character.
- Jane Eyre
- Queen Victoria
- James Joyce
- Moses
- Patty Everidge
- Lord Hasting Hunter
- Lord Ashbury
- Lady Jemima
- Godfrey Vickers
- Lord Ponsonby
- Margery
- John
- Charles Darwin
- Tennyson
- Lloyd George
- Adams
- Lady Violet
- R. S. Hunter: A poet. Also known as Robbie.
- Lady Pemberton-Brown
- Aunt Dee
- Aaron
- Miriam
- Stephen Hardcastle
- Sarah
- Maggie
- Arthur Conan Doyle
- Freddy Bywaters
- Sherlock Holmes
- Raverley
- Lady Clarissa
- Penelope
- Mr Brown
- Agatha Christie
- Desmond
- Mr Butler
- Grandma Florence: Born in England, grew up in America. Ursula's grandmother.
- Anthony
- Katie: A servant at Riverton.
- Rufus Smith
- Mr Dawkins
- Mrs. Christie
- Bunty
- Hannah Hartford
- Mr. Theodore Luxton
- Miss Dove
Quotes edit
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“They danced along the reaches of the street,resting and then twirling in step with each gust.At one point,the feather reeled on ahead,embraced by a partner more vigorous thant he last,which lifted it and sent it pirouetting up over the shop roofs and out of sight.”
Grace -
“the way the fabric of time is changing,and I am beginning to feel at home in the past and a visitor to this strange and blanched experience we agree to call the present.”
Grace -
“But happiness... happiness grows at our own firesides. It is not to be picked in strangers' gardens.”
Grace's mother -
“Photgraphs force us to see people before their future weighed them down, before they knew their endings.”
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“"Obstinate, I own. But I am not deaf and do not like it when people assume I am-my eyesight is poor without glasses, I tire easily, have none of my own teeth left and survive on a cocktail of pills, but I can hear as well as I ever have. It's only with age I have learned solely to listen to things I want to hear."”
- Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers
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While one’s child takes a part of one’s heart to use and misuse as they please, a grandchild is different. Gone are the bonds of guilt and responsibility that burden the maternal relationship. The way to love is free.
Highlighted by 200 Kindle customers -
Wars make history seem deceptively simple. They provide clear turning points, easy distinctions: before and after, winner and loser, right and wrong. True history, the past, is not like that. It isn’t flat or linear. It has no outline. It is slippery, like liquid; infinite and unknowable, like space. And it is changeable: just when you think you see a pattern, perspective shifts, an alternative version is proffered, a long-forgotten memory resurfaces.
Highlighted by 129 Kindle customers -
“But happiness…happiness grows at our own firesides,” she said. “It is not to be picked in strangers’ gardens.”
Highlighted by 124 Kindle customers -
In real life turning points are sneaky. They pass by unlabeled and unheeded. Opportunities are missed, catastrophes unwittingly celebrated. Turning points are only uncovered later, by historians who seek to bring order to a lifetime of tangled moments.
Highlighted by 121 Kindle customers -
It’s only with age I have learned solely to listen to things I want to hear.
Highlighted by 115 Kindle customers -
It is a cruel, ironical art, photography. The dragging of captured moments into the future; moments that should have been allowed to evaporate with the past; should exist only in memories, glimpsed through the fog of events that came after. Photographs force us to see people before their future weighed them down, before they knew their endings.
Highlighted by 108 Kindle customers -
He will return one day, of that I’ve little doubt, for home is a magnet that lures back even its most abstracted children.
Highlighted by 80 Kindle customers -
It is an uncanny feeling, that rare occasion when one catches a glimpse of oneself in repose. An unguarded moment, stripped of artifice, when one forgets to fool even oneself.
Highlighted by 75 Kindle customers -
I am interested—intrigued even—by the way time erases real lives, leaving only vague imprints. Blood and spirit fade away so that only names and dates remain.
Highlighted by 56 Kindle customers -
I wasn’t certain how I felt about spiritualists, I was certain enough about the type of people who were drawn to them. Only people unhappy in the present seek to know the future.
Highlighted by 36 Kindle customers
Setting & Locations edit
- Riverton: The country estate of the Hartford family; the head of the family is Lord Ashbury.
- Heathview: The retirement home in which Grace now lives.
- London: All the great families of England have both country homes, like Riverton, and homes in London.
- Saffron Village: Riverton is an estate outside Saffron Village; Grace's mother lives there.
- New York: Although Simion Luxton was born in England, he moved to America. Teddy and Deborah were born and raised there; the Luxton family returned to England and met the Hartfords when Teddy was 31.
First Sentence edit
Last November I had a nightmare.
Table of Contents edit
PART ONE
Ghosts Stir
The Drawing Room
The Nursery
Waiting for the Recital
All Good Things
Saffron High Street
In the West
Until We Meet Again
PART TWO
The Twelfth of July
The Fall of Icarus
The Photgraph
Bankers
The Dinner
A Suitable Husband
The Ball and After
PART THREE
Catching Butterflies
Down the Rabbit Hole
In the Depths
Resurrection
The Choice
PART FOUR
Hannah's Story
The Beginning of the End
Riverton Revisited
Slipping out of Time
The End
The Tape
The Letter
Acknowledgments
Author's Note
Authors & Contributors edit
- Kate Morton (Author)
First Edition edit
Original Language: English
Publisher: Allen & Unwin PTY LTD
Country: Australia
Publication Date: 2006
ISBN: 978-1741751772
Page Count: 551
Publisher: Allen & Unwin PTY LTD
Country: Australia
Publication Date: 2006
ISBN: 978-1741751772
Page Count: 551
Awards edit
- Sainsbury's Popular Fiction Award (2008: Best Novel Nominee)
Classification edit
- Library of Congress: PR9619.4.M74 S55 2008
- Dewey: 823.92
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