The House at Riverton

Hannah Hartford is the novel’s deuteragonist and tragic heroine, a figure of intelligence and passion whose life is a rebellion against the constraints of her social class and gender. Hannah is defined by her intense yearning for a life of purpose beyond the decorative role prescribed for early 20-century aristocratic women. In the novel, she is emblematic of the historical tensions between traditional and progressive gender roles at the time. Her intellectual curiosity, manifested in her interests in archaeology, politics, and literature, sets her apart from her peers and places her in direct conflict with the conservative expectations of her family. Her desire for agency is expressed by her leadership of the Hartford children’s secret activity, “The Game,” an alternate world of agency and adventure. Mirroring this, her marriage to Teddy Luxton is an adult attempt to gain the independence she craves, but it entraps her further within a subordinate, claustrophobic life, sending her life on a tragic path.

A round and dynamic character, Hannah’s relationships are deeply complex and often turbulent. She is envious of the freedoms and privileges afforded her brother as a boy and shares a contentious but profound bond with her father, Frederick, whose rebellious nature mirrors hers but who defines her by her gender. She is fiercely protective of her sister Emmeline, but also often controlling, underestimating the depth of Emmeline’s own feelings. Hannah’s love for the poet Robbie Hunter is the central tragedy of her life, a connection based on a shared intellectual and emotional intensity that she finds nowhere else. This secret affair, poisons her relationships and leads directly to the story’s violent climax. 

Ultimately, Hannah’s character arc is a tragic one, suggesting that she is inherently unsuited to the place and time in which she is born. In the tradition of tragic heroines, the story ends with her death. However, through her present to Grace, Grace’s storytelling, and the life of Ursula, her legacy lives on.

Emmeline Hartford, Hannah’s younger sister, functions as a foil to her sibling and develops from a seemingly simple ingénue into a complex and pivotal character. Emmeline’s beauty and natural charm make her the center of attention as a young society woman, a role she relishes. Her relationship with Hannah is an intense blend of love and rivalry, a dynamic established in their childhood through “The Game,” where Emmeline is often relegated to the role of a passive character in need of rescue. 

This childhood pattern is mirrored in the novel’s love triangle, where Emmeline is used an unwitting alibi for Hannah and Robbie’s affair. As the novel progresses, Emmeline’s character gains significant depth. Her seemingly frivolous nature conceals a powerful emotional intensity and a desperate fear of abandonment. Her childhood crush on Robbie Hunter deepens into a possessive, all-consuming love that she believes is reciprocated. Her discovery of his secret affair with Hannah spells the final betrayal and breakdown of the sisterly relationship. Driven by jealousy and a profound sense of betrayal, Emmeline confronts the lovers, brandishing a gun in a desperate attempt to prevent Hannah from leaving with the man she believes is hers. Her actions directly precipitate the tragic climax, making her an active and crucial agent in the story’s outcome.

Robert “Robbie” Hunter is the catalyst for the novel’s central tragedy and serves as a romantic hero whose presence disrupts the insulated world of Riverton. Robbie’s intellectual and emotional depth creates an immediate and powerful bond with Hannah, subconscious at first when they meet as teenagers, and rekindled as adults. To Emmeline, he represents a figure of pure romance, an object of intense and ultimately destructive affection. 



Robbie is an outsider, positioned slightly apart from the aristocracy by his social status and his artistic pursuits. He is defined by a deep-seated melancholy connected to his traumatic past, including his mother’s suicide and his war experiences. This psychological trauma, identified in the novel as “shell shock,” renders him both intensely sensitive and dangerously volatile. At the novel’s climax, panicked by the fireworks and Emmeline’s confrontation, his war trauma surfaces, and he screams at Hannah to shoot her sister, an act of uncharacteristic aggression that leads to his own death at Hannah’s hand. He is a tragic figure representing the trauma suffered by veterans of World War I, and symbolic of the widespread national grief experienced in its aftermath.

Theodore “Teddy” Luxton is Hannah’s husband. He represents the pragmatic, business-oriented world of the new upper class, as this moved from a traditional, land-based system toward modern capitalism. Initially, Teddy presents as a kind and sensible match for Hannah, offering her a life of wealth and social standing. Their marriage is a strategic union, combining his family’s new money with the prestige of the Hartford name. As their marriage progresses, however, Teddy’s more conventional and controlling nature emerges. He is a product of his time and class, expecting Hannah to fulfill the traditional duties of a wife and society hostess. He dismisses her intellectual pursuits and desire for a career, failing to understand her deep-seated unhappiness. Acting out of selfishness and male privilege, his primary motivation becomes the preservation of his political and business reputation. This focus on appearances leads him to play a crucial role in concealing the truth about Robbie’s death, choosing to protect the family name over confronting the devastating reality of the event. His inability to acknowledge Hannah’s personhood as equal to his own contributes significantly to her profound sense of entrapment within the marriage, and his antipathy frames Hannah’s love affair with Robbie sympathetically.

Frederick Hartford is the father of Hannah, Emmeline, and David, and a man whose life is defined by frustrated ambition and a rebellious spirit that he passes down to his daughter Hannah. As the younger son of Lord Ashbury, he has lived in the shadow of his decorated older brother, and his various business ventures are marked by failure. Although a minor character, he is representative of the decline of the traditional aristocratic way of life through the early 20th century. The novel’s central secret is also rooted in Frederick’s character: Grace is his daughter following his youthful love affair with Grace’s mother.

David Hartford is the charming and handsome older brother to Hannah and Emmeline and the original anchor of the sibling trio. As the family’s male heir, he is a foil for his sisters’ more constrained, domestic lives. When home from Eton, he is a central figure in their childhood invention, “The Game.” His role is pivotal, as it is he who introduces his school friend, Robbie Hunter, into the family circle, an act that unwittingly sets the stage for the future tragedy. David’s death in World War I is a devastating blow that fractures the family line and the sibling dynamic, marking a definitive end to their shared childhood.

Alfred Steeple is a footman at Riverton and Grace’s love interest. He represents a possible life for Grace beyond the world of domestic service. Kind, warm, and handsome, he offers Grace genuine affection and, after his return from the war, a future of marriage and independence as he plans to leave service to start his own electrical business. Grace’s decision to refuse his proposal despite loving him intensely makes their relationship a foil to her choice of sibling duty and self-sacrifice. As Grace and Alfred rekindle their relationship in later life, he also serves figuratively as a moral reward for Grace, and a rare example in the narrative of a romantic happy ending.