The House at Riverton

infobox Book |
name = The House at Riverton
title_orig = Also released as The Shifting Fog
translator =


image_caption =
author = Kate Morton
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = Australia, United Kingdom
language = English
series =
genre = Novel
publisher = Pan Macmillan(UK)
release_date = 2007
english_release_date =
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages =
isbn =
preceded_by =
followed_by = "The Forgotten Garden"

"The House at Riverton" is the first novel by Australian author Kate Morton, published in the UK by Pan Macmillan in June 2007. It has been selected as a Summer Read by the Richard & Judy Book Club, and was featured on Channel 4's Richard & Judy show on Wednesday 18 July 2007. It has also been chosen for the First Look Book Club on Barnes and Noble before it's release in the United States. An edition of the book was published by Allen & Unwin under the title of "The Shifting Fog".

Overview

"The House at Riverton" tells the story of Grace Bradley, 98, who was once a maid at Riverton Manor during the scandal of when a young famous World War I poet took his life in front of the Hartford sisters, Hannah and Emmeline, who never speak to each other again after the event. For decades Grace has hidden a terrible secret from that night. Now a film is being made of that famous incident, and Grace is contacted by the films director leading Grace to revisits her memories.

During the novel we learn that Grace Reeves, a fourteen year old girl, has been sent to work at the home of Lord and Lady Ashbury, by her mother who used to be a maid in 'the house on the hill'. Lord and Lady Ashbury have two sons, a major who is the eldest and in line to inherit the family home. He has no children due to the fact that the two sons his wife bore died in childhood. The other son is Mr. Frederick, who is a widower and has 3 children, David the eldest, Hannah and then Emmeline the youngest.

Grace first meets the children when they come to say at Riverton and finds them playing "The Game" in the nursery. She immediately feels a big connection towards them, Hannah in particular. A few years follow and one Christmas David brings home a school friend, Robbie, who is the illegitmate son of a Lord. Talk of a war begins, and David and Robbie say that they will go to war and fight for their country.

Eventually war does come around and David and his uncle, the Major, go to war along with, Robbie Hunter. Grace's friend Alfred, who she has met in service also goes to war, they all go to the train station together to say thier goodbye's. Hannah gives David a small book from the game, and gives Robbie a ribbon from her hair. As the war proceeds many people decide they want to help out more and cannot complete all their duties around Riverton and Grace is given the great responsibility of taking care of Mr. Frederick's children when they stay at the house. One day during the war when Grace is out in the village running an errand and also collecting a book for herself, she sees Hannah. Hannah, seeing where she has come from buying the book, wonders where she had been then assumes she has been doing the same as her, taking lessons in short hand.

News comes from the war that David has died and so has her uncle the Major. Her Grandfather dies and as her Aunt has given birth to a baby girl the house will go to Mr. Frederick, Emmeline, Hannah and David's father. Alfred returns from the war, but everyone notices the change in him.

Eventually Hannah turns 18 and the family celebrate this with a ball, which is where she meets her future husband Theordore (Teddy) Luxton, even though in the past she had always said she would never marry. Teddy is the son of Simion Luxton, Hannah's father's business associate who is trying to help him with his motor car company which has taken a turn for the worse during the war. Simion eventually offers to buy out Mr. Frederick for a very poor amount of money, before the company fails completely, leaving Mr. Frederick feeling embarrassed and defeated, because of this he asks Hannah not to marry Teddy, but she goes against him for the want of more opportunities in life. Her father asks her never to return to Riverton, and Hannah takes Grace with her as her Lady's Maid.

Afer the honeymoon, Hannah lives in London with Teddy and his fashionable column writer sister Deborah. Grace notices how increasingly unhappy Hannah is becoming. At the same time Grace has been writing letters to Alfred, asking about the running of Riverton and the family. After a while, news is delivered that Grace's mother has died. She notices that at the funeral, in the distance she can see Mr. Frederick, it is at this time she realised why her mother left working at Riverton and why she feels such a close bond to Hannah. It is that Mr. Frederick is her father, making Hannah and Emmeline her sisters.

Soon after this, Mr. Frederick takes a turn for the worse, roaming the house and gardens, and finally killing himself. With this, Emmeline automatically moves in to live with Teddy, Deborah and Hannah in their London home. They start to receive visits from their brothers old friend Robbie Hunter, who originally only came over to return the hair ribbon the Hannah had given him all those years ago, and the sall book she had given her brother. Emmeline immediately took a shine to him and he visited often, but secretely only to see Hannah, having no interest in Emmeline.

After some time it is clear that Deborah likes Robbie a lot, but when he declines her offer to go to a party together she becomes jealous of the relationship he and Hannah have. She talks to her brother Teddy, suggesting that them spending to much time together may cause a scandal that would not be wanted, so Teddy stops them seeing each other, only when he comes to pick up Emmeline will they be allowed to. Robbie begins leaving messages for Hannah, places and times to meet in private and there is a secret affair.

It does not take long though, for Teddy to realise that the Riverton household now belongs to him and he can move there whenever he pleases. He arranges for a renovation of the house and a summer housse to be built by the lake, and so Teddy and Hannah move to Riverton, leaving Emmeline behind still loving life in London. Hannah and Deborah decide it is fitting to arrange a party on their return so that people are reminded of who lives their and the importance of their family.

On the night of the party Grace goes to her room, to find two letters sitting on her bed, one addressed to her, and one addressed to Emmeline, both written from Hannah. She opens her letter only to find that it is all written in shorthand, and she cannot read it, and so she opens Emmeline's letter. Inside she finds a suicide note, saying that she intends to drown herself in the lake on the night of the party, so by the time Emmeline reads it, it will be too late.

Grace rushes to find Emmeline, and takes her outside to talk. Emmeline has been drinking a lot and is wearing a mans jacket. As grace explains what is happening the both rush to the lake that is still cornered off as the summer house has not been completed. Emmeline stumbles and hurts her foot but continues on, until she sees Hannah walking out of the summer house. Emmeline calls out to her, wanting an explanation. Hannah passes it off as a Game, that it was a mystery and shes been hiding clues, urging Emmeline to go back to the party. Before Emmeline does she sits on a rock near the lake to look at her foot whilst Grace waits for her.

Emmeline is angry that Grace dragged her away from the party, but then notices another figure standing with Hannah, and sees that it is Robbie and calls him over. Hannah begins to explain that her and Robbie aren't staying at the party but are going away together, that they are in love. Emmeline becomes very jealous, and pulls a gun from the jacket pocket, threatening to shoot one of them, questioning why Hannah gets everything and everyone that she always wanted. She then turns the gun on herself, but before she can pull the trigger, Hannah snatches the gun away from her.

There is a lot of noise in the background, the three of them arguing over the gun, the sound of fireworks going off at the party. Hannah can hear Robbie shouting at her to shoot Emmeline as she will spoil all their plans of running away together. With nowhere left to run Hannah pulls the trigger, and Robbie is dead. Grace watches in the background unsure of what to do.They hear voices coming round the corner, Teddy showing some friends the nearly finished summer house, then he spots the blood. Emmeline stands and says there was nothing they could do to stop Mr Hunter from killing himself. And the secret stayed forever, only Grace, Hannah and Emmeline knowing the truth.

Later, Emmeline returns to London, wishing to never again speak to Hannah. Teddy and the rest of the staff at the house try to understand why Hannah is so depressed when Emmeline seems to be getting on with her life, not knowing how in love she was with Robbie, or knowing how he died. They all come to the conclusion that she needs something to take her mind off of the event, and that a baby will be good for her.

A few months down the line Hannah is expecting a baby, and there are some complications with the birth. Grace stays with her but Hannah has not been the same with her since the night Robbie died, giving her looks, and telling her she cannot read shorthand. She starts telling Grace that it's all her fault. As the baby is born, Hannah dies, and the baby, Florence, is left with teddy, although she has Robbie's eyes. She is soon sent away to live with other relatives it America.

Grace eventually finds out what the letter Hannah had written to her in short hand said. It explained that her and Robbie were planning to run away together, but in order to do this she must fake her death. She has left a suicide note to Emmeline explaining where she has killed herself and that she is sorry, that Grace should leave for her to find sometime after the party. She thanks Grace for all her help, and wishes her luck in finding a new life, providing her with a key to a box that contains things she believes will help her.

We discover in the book that Grace goes on to lead an exciting life, that she begins with many small jobs but finally becomes an archeologist, and marries. She has children that look after her in her old age, and a grandson she has been trying to contact, to share her secret with. She also spends nearly 20 years of her life with Alfred before he passed away. We also find out that the young woman who has made the film is also related to her, as her grandmother is Florence, Hannah's baby who was sent to live in America.

References