The House at Riverton

Ah, Kate Morton, you are a divine writer. But I am glad to be taking a break from you for a little while.

The House at Riverton by Kate Morton

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Well, now that I've read all of Morton's novels published to date, I have to say that this was my favorite. I loved all of them, but I think this one was the best thus far.

I suppose that came as a bit of a surprise to me. Usually writers get better with time, although I am not saying that I like her other two novels any less now that I've read her first. I'm not saying that her perfect prose has suffered any at all because it has not. The woman can write, period. In fact, she's probably my favorite modern author now, and that is not so much because she writes a good story (she does, in my opinion) but more because her voice sings off the page. The woman is a poet, pure and simple.

However, I liked this book most because it was less gimmicky and more authentic. The story is told by Grace Bradley, lady's maid to Hannah Hartford. Grace has reached the end of her life, and at ninety-eight she is ready to tell the story of Hannah's secret past, and of course, her own because the two are tangled together. This has all the trappings of The Distant Hours and The Forgotten Garden...a modern protagonist telling the story of an age that has passed. A mystery ensues and things end tragically. I am not really giving anything away here. Morton leaves enough clues, and if you've read her other novels, you know what is coming.

So what do I mean..."less gimmicky, more authentic" anyway? Just this. There are far fewer of the obvious allusions to Gothic romantic literature. The Hartford family story is tragic, but the tragedy is not so, so, SO melodramatic as it is in Morton's subsequent work. For example, insanity seems to be one of Morton's favorite ways to create drama. But here there is no insanity. Rather, the tragedy feels more organic, related to the accepted social mores and events of the time period, such as class separation and World War I, and the loss these families experienced as a result. So that is the first reason I liked this more.

On a side note, It isn't that I don't like Gothic literature because I do. I love it. But at times Gothic conventions can be heavy handed and rather theatrical, and there are aspects of such that I sometimes don't think translate well when written by current authors. Maybe it isn't fair to say that only Charlotte Bronte or Wilkie Collins should be using those conventions? I digress...

Oh, so I also fell in love with the narrator. Grace was the perfect foil for Hannah. Not only that, she felt more a part of the story than the narrators of Morton's other two books. But mostly, I loved Grace's story. Even though she is supposed to be telling us what Hannah did, I liked hearing about her life more. It was her story that left me feeling really sad because she was the one who made the real sacrifices for Hannah. She's a lovely character and the perfect narrator. I think that is because as a narrator, Grace is very staid. And that just served to make the story more believable on the whole.

The ending came, and some of those more dramatic tendencies came out, and of course, there is the twist that you didn't quite see coming, or you did because you are uber smart like that. Either way...a lot less "surprise...gotcha!" in this. Mostly, Morton sets the reader up for the ending, and I think I prefer that method. Moreover, some parts of the story were left a little bit ambiguous in the end, and personally I like some ambiguity. Every last detail doesn't need to be tied up in neat packages with ribbons and bows.

So her next novel is supposed to come out at the end of this year? (Don't quote me on that.) And that's perfect. I've read three of her novels in the past five or six months, and so that is a lot of Kate Morton. Trust me. While her books are very very readable, they aren't light, either. That will give me enough time to cleanse my palate and anticipate something new from her.


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