Tuesday, August 3, 2010

The House at Riverton by Kate Morton



The House at Riverton is a mystery novel  -- although it teems with history and is certainly more than a mystery -- and because it is a mystery novel I find it especially hard to review.  I'm a big believer in not spoiling secrets in books, especially when I want everyone to run out and read the book straightaway.  So instead of divulging the plot I'll tell you that Kate Morton is a brilliant writer.  BRILLIANT!

Morton succeeds in writing a ripping good story filled with death, secrets, unspoken desires, jealousy, and greed.  In addition, each character is expertly fleshed out:  each character is realistic, flawed, vulnerable.  Not only does Morton have a great story with believable characters but her historical accuracy is dead one -- the characters deal with generational rifts between late Victorians and the roaring twenties, World War I impacts every character intensely, the women seek to find a place of equality in a changing world, the middle class is rising and the importance of the landed gentry diminishing, and there is the ever fascinating upstairs-downstairs drama at play.  If this wasn't enough to entice you to read The House of Riverton, let me also point out that Morton excels at the difficult task of writing from different points in time.  We have the perspective of young Grace (a maid and the novel's narrator) and an older Grace (a retired archaeologist who is slowly declining).  The story weaves in and out of time, but with no confusion or sloppiness.

I really enjoyed The House at Riverton and am dying to find and devour her other novel The Forgotten Garden.  The story will nab your attention, but the excellent writing is what makes this book a memorable read.

5 comments:

anothercookiecrumbles said...

I've not read this book yet, but thanks for a fantastic review. It's been on my wishlist for ages now (along with The Forgotten Garden), but it's just been one I've been procrastinating on for no good reason.

JoAnn said...

The Forgotten Garden was wonderful, too! Now I need to read this one. Have you heard Kate Morton has a new book coming out this fall?

nerdybookgirl said...

Squeal! I'll add this other Morton book to my TBR list. I'm off to Amazon to investigate! Thanks for the heads up, JoAnn.

Booksploring said...

Nice review! My copy of this one was called "The Shifting Fog". I absolutely loved this one and The Forgotten Garden and can't wait for The Distant Hours to come out! :-)

Remembering August and Looking to September « Fig and Thistle said...

[...] 5 books (The House at Riverton, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Manservant and Maidservant, The Stolen Crown, and Time [...]