51 pages • 1 hour read
The House at Riverton
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Part 1Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Content Warning: This section of the guide contains descriptions of death by suicide, illness or death, mental illness, child death, gender discrimination, and racism.
Part 1, Chapter 1 Summary: “Ghosts Stir”
The novel is narrated by Grace Bradley, a 98-year-old woman in a nursing home in 1999. After a filmmaker contacts her about a movie involving a tragedy at Riverton Manor, Grace finds suppressed memories of her past resurfacing. Grace dreams of the lake at Riverton where a mud-splattered Hannah Hartford tells her she has come too late. In the dream, Grace finds she is holding a dead foxhound.
Grace wakes to receive a letter, brought by her carer, Sylvia. The letter is from Ursula Ryan, a filmmaker researching the deaths of Hannah, Emmeline, and Robbie Hunter. Grace initially ignores the letter, not wanting to disturb the past, but her memories of the Hartfords resurface.
When a second, more personal, letter from Ursula arrives, Grace reconsiders. Finding that she feels curious, she writes back to Ursula, agreeing to meet and discuss the film.
Part 1, Chapter 2 Summary: “The Drawing Room”
Grace’s daughter, Ruth, drives her to Shepperton Studios to meet Ursula. Ursula, who has a family connection to the Riverton story, leads Grace onto a meticulously recreated set of the manor’s drawing room.
The set unsettles Grace and pulls her back into the past. It triggers a memory of her leaving her job at Riverton and a lecture from the butler, Mr.
