The House at Riverton - Kate Morton

There may be an impression growing that I'm just an old moaner, a latter day Statler or Waldorf, (for Muppets fans) who takes pleasure in growling about everything he discovers. Not true, and just to prove it, let me introduce you to Kate Morton.

Kate is a young Australian author who has the world at her feet. Her book, "The House at Riverton", known elsewhere as "The Shifting Fog" is a best seller, has been acclaimed in various countries and the rights to the book have been sold in various others. Anyone who is interested in learning more can link to her website here.

Unlike the last book I reviewed, this is not a thriller, not even a whodunnit, more of a "what happened?" Set in Essex, England in two periods nearly 80 years apart, it is an engrossing, charming and intriguing novel that plots a significant part of the life of Grace Bradley, at one time a lady's maid in the house of the title. Something momentous happened there. we don't know what, we don't know why and we don't know to whom. We do know it was significant enough for a film to be made about it in the late 1990's, but throughout the book we follow the story, getting tantalising glimpses and warnings about the murky past that has yet to be revealed.

We have to wait until the very end for the full import of all that has happened to emerge. The butterfly wings of seemingly trivial events in history have their full and momentous impact later with tragic consequences. The book deals with love, lust and deception, with tragedy and loss and with cataclysmic events of the First World War in a seemingly gentle way that lures the reader on and entices one deeper into the families and their various secrets. For they all have them and sometimes die in ignorance of them.

This book is subtle, sensitive and evocative. It is extremely well written and I cannot recommend it highly enough. I am fond of picking up quotes from books, and of copying particular passages that have caught my eye. The following is typical, and is in Grace's words as she nears death,

"I am beginning to die. Nobody has told me, but I see it in their faces. The pleasant, soft expressions, the sad, smiling eyes, the kind whispers and glances that pass between them. And I feel it myself.

"A quickening.

"I am slipping out of time. The demarcations I've observed for a lifetime are suddenly meaningless: seconds, minutes, hours, days. Mere words. All I have are moments."

I don't have Kate Norton's permission to print that little extract, but I hope she sees it for what it is. Admiration from one who wishes he had the skill, style and imagination to write novels like The House at Riverton. For me it's a superbly written tale that will last in my memory for a long time to come.