The House At Riverton (book review)

Some of the most random discoveries end up being the best. I was perusing Amazon.com’s vast selection of books one day and “The House At Riverton” popped up in a long list of related and/or recommended reads. After reading a synopsis as well as noting the overwhelming amount of five-star reviews, I knew I had to give it a go. It ended up being one of my best reads of 2010 (and that’s a short list).

The book follows the early life and death of narrator Grace Bradley (née Reeves), a woman who served as a maid at the Riverton Manor beginning when she was 14 years old and ending in her early 20’s. The reader is continually taken back and forth in time starting in 1914, the 98-year-old Grace of the present (1998) spontaneously and vividly recollecting her life and events at Riverton and elsewhere, along with the complex histories of sisters Hannah and Emmeline Hartford. These memories are triggered by a visit back to the old manor in addition to the inquiries of a production company that is making a film centered on the suicide of poet R.S. Hunter, Riverton’s one notorious piece of history. As the story moves from the pedantic teens to the roaring 20’s, war ravages both the bodies and souls of its characters, women’s lib ruffles conservative feathers, long-kept secrets are unearthed and forbidden love shatters a family forever.

Morton is this generation’s Charlotte Brontë. Serving up a sweeping tale of love and secrets, she has all her elegant deportment and little of her languid pacing. Though in stories like this it takes time and patience on the inevitable climb to its superlative summits, the view from above once there allows for some magnificent reflection on its fascinating and well-drawn characters. Grace is all about conformity – her perpetual yield to the hierarchy of servant-to-master has her rarely speaking her mind, much less stepping out of line or doing something rash. She is quiet, controlled, restrained, and harbors a deep and inexplicable loyalty to the family she serves, to the detriment of her personal life. It is because of those traits that her powers of observation serve her to the utmost in evoking Riverton’s thorny history. One could easily compare the guilt that she carries to that of Briony Tallis in Ian McEwan’s best-selling novel “Atonement”; in part responsible for the death of a love affair, she continues to serve up an illusion to the public while keeping the truth of the matter to herself until just before she passes, the facts finally revealed in almost the fashion of a literal deathbed confession.

Hannah is the non-conformist, the rebel, the dreamer – stymied by the stiff, patriarchal push of traditionalism and the unrelenting repression of women, she longs to be liberated both in milieu and manner. She tutors herself in secret on a trade skill and dreams of traveling the world, meeting people and expressing ideas, longing for a life of constant adventure and risk despite her predestined prospect as a meek, cosseted spouse of a well-to-do. Emmeline is her antithesis, a flirtatious and spritely girl who gobbles attention and affection, wholeheartedly embraces her femininity and is more than happy to be coddled and contained by a man’s clout and capital.

Several parts of the novel contain some wonderful quotes that can stand on their own, such as Grace’s views on grandchildren: “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.” (pg. 244)

The description of a long-married couple’s dissolved zeal is nearly as affecting: “Estella Luxton smiled tolerantly at her husband and between them passed a type of unspoken communication born of years of joint existence. In that moment’s glance I perceived their marriage as one of practical endurance. A symbiotic relationship whose usefulness had long outlived its passion.” (pg. 283)

Bottom line: The world of literary fiction is fickle; today’s best-selling author is all too quickly yesterday’s success story, but Morton has staying power, impressing and captivating with her keen sense of character, refined voice and layered storytelling. If you liked “Atonement”, then “The House At Riverton” comes highly recommended.