The House at Riverton

The House at Riverton, a 2006 historical Gothic novel by Australian author Kate Morton, was originally published in Australia under the title The Shifting Fog. The story is framed by the recollections of 98-year-old Grace Bradley, a former housemaid who is prompted by a filmmaker to reveal the long-suppressed secrets surrounding a poet’s tragic death at a grand English manor in 1924. Her recollections also reveal the secrets of her own parentage. The novel explores themes of Remembrance as a Means of Emotional Resolution and Legacy Preservation, Sibling Loyalty versus Romantic Love, and The Impact of Class and Gender on Lineage and Opportunity.

Morton’s debut novel, The House at Riverton became a New York Times bestseller and established her reputation as a writer of detailed historical mysteries. Her other notable works include The Forgotten Garden and The Clockmaker’s Daughter. The narrative is set against the backdrop of early 20th-century England, using the “upstairs/downstairs” dynamic of a country estate to examine the upheaval in British societal structures in the wake of World War I.

This guide is based on the 2009 Washington Square Press trade paperback edition.

Content Warning: Both the source text and this guide contain descriptions of death by suicide, suicide ideation, graphic violence, illness or death, child death, pregnancy loss, mental illness, substance use, gender discrimination, and racism.

Plot Summary

In November 1999, Grace Bradley, a 98-year-old resident of Heathview Nursing Home, receives a letter from a filmmaker named Ursula Ryan. Ursula is making a film about the 1924 suicide of poet Robbie Hunter at Riverton Manor, where Grace worked as a housemaid. The letter triggers a flood of memories Grace has spent a lifetime suppressing. Though she initially ignores the correspondence, the vivid recollections of Riverton and the Hartford family, particularly the sisters Hannah and Emmeline, persist. When a second letter arrives, Grace’s curiosity overcomes her reluctance, and she agrees to meet Ursula at the film studio.

Grace’s daughter, Ruth, drives her to the film set. Grace is emotionally overwhelmed by the meticulously recreated Riverton drawing room. Ursula explains that her great-grandmother was a guest at Riverton on the night of the suicide, and the film is based on her family’s version of the events. Ursula believes the official story: Robbie Hunter died by suicide, witnessed only by the Hartford sisters, who never spoke to each other again. Grace knows that this version of events is false but is privately relieved that the true story remains a secret.

The narrative moves back to June 1914, when a 14-year-old Grace begins in service at Riverton Manor, the home of Lord Ashbury and Lady Violet. Grace’s mother, who once worked there, has insisted she take the position. Grace is introduced to the strict hierarchy of the servants’ hall, managed by the butler, Mr. Hamilton, and the cook, Mrs. Townsend. Her duties involve maintaining the old nursery, which she adopts as a private sanctuary, secretly reading its books. She soon encounters the Hartford grandchildren: the intelligent Hannah (14), the beautiful Emmeline (10), and their brother David (16), who are visiting for the summer. Grace overhears them rehearsing a play and learns of their secret imagined world, “The Game,” a complex fantasy life they document in a special box, which has a strict rule of only three players. She feels strangely drawn to them. When their governess approaches, Grace lies to help them hide, although this is out of character.

Grace learns more about the Hartford family as the household prepares for the family’s annual summer gala. Lord Ashbury’s sons soon arrive: the “heroic” older son Major Jonathan and his wife Jemima, and the widowed Mr. Frederick, a struggling entrepreneur and the children’s father. Jonathan and Jemima’s own two children both died young from hemophilia. During the summer recital, Hannah’s play cleverly satirizes her father’s conservative views. The festivities are cut short on the night of August 4, 1914, when a telephone call announces that Great Britain has declared war on Germany.

In 1999, Grace, feeling her health decline, begins recording the true story of Riverton onto cassette tapes for her grandson, Marcus, a novelist who is grieving the recent death of his wife.

The story returns to the war years. In the winter of 1915, David brings his school friend, Robbie Hunter, to Riverton for Christmas. Emmeline develops an immediate crush on Robbie after he tends to an injury she sustains. Grace learns from Nancy that Major Jonathan’s wife, Jemima, is pregnant again. In 1916, Alfred, a young footman, enlists in the army. David and Robbie also join the army. As they depart, Hannah gives Robbie her white hair ribbon for luck. With many of the staff engaged in war work, Grace’s duties expand, and she becomes a personal maid to the sisters, becoming more intimate with the girls, especially Hannah.

In July 1916, Major Jonathan is killed at the Battle of the Somme. Days later, his father, Lord Ashbury, dies from a stroke. The route of the family’s inheritance now depends on the sex of Jemima’s unborn child. When she gives birth to a daughter, Gytha, the title and the heavily indebted estate pass to Mr. Frederick as second son, who becomes the new Lord Ashbury.

After the war, in which David was also killed, the family moves permanently back to a decaying Riverton. Hannah is seen burying the box for “The Game” near the lake. Facing financial ruin, Mr. Frederick hosts a dinner for American banker Simion Luxton and his family, including his son, Theodore “Teddy” Luxton, hoping to secure a loan. Hannah is refused her father’s consent to move to London and find secretarial work. Viewing marriage as her only path to independence, Hannah marries Teddy without her father’s consent. Grace accompanies them to London as Hannah’s lady’s maid, leaving behind a heartbroken Mr. Frederick, from whom Hannah is now estranged. While home from London for her mother’s funeral, Grace pieces together clues from her past and realizes that Mr. Frederick is her biological father, making Hannah her half-sister. On the same day, Alfred proposes marriage, but Grace rejects him, bound by a promise she made to Hannah never to leave her.

In London, Hannah feels stifled in her marriage. Robbie Hunter, now a published poet, reenters her life, and they begin a passionate, secret affair, meeting on his houseboat on the Thames. Emmeline, also in London, socializes with Robbie and believes he is courting her, a misconception that provides a convenient cover for his meetings with Hannah. Teddy’s sister, Deborah Luxton, discovers the affair and threatens to expose it. She tells Hannah to end the relationship or she will arrange for Robbie to “disappear.”

Forced to end the affair, Hannah plans one last meeting with Robbie before she and Teddy move back to Riverton in the spring of 1924. She orchestrates a large midsummer party, intending to use the chaos as cover for her and Robbie to abscond together. After Robbie dies at the party, a bereaved Hannah gives birth to a daughter, Florence, but dies in childbirth. Hannah’s baby, believed to be Robbie’s child, is taken to America to be raised by Jemima. Ursula’s grandmother, who inspired the film, is revealed to be Florence.

Back in 1999, in her final days, Grace visits Riverton with Ursula, which triggers her last, most deeply repressed memories. She later collapses and is taken to the hospital. Her grandson Marcus returns home, prompted by her tapes. Grace gives him one final cassette, instructing him to listen to it after she is dead. Marcus tells Ursula that Grace later reconnected with Alfred and they spent nearly 20 years together. Surrounded by her family and Ursula, Grace dies peacefully while watching the finished film.

Grace’s final tape reveals the truth of June 21, 1924. On the night of the party, Grace finds two letters from Hannah. Misinterpreting them as a suicide note, she and a drunken Emmeline race to the lake. They find Hannah and Robbie by the summer house, about to escape. Betrayed, Emmeline confronts them, threatening suicide with a handgun. The party’s fireworks display triggers Robbie’s severe shell shock. In his panicked state, he screams at Hannah to shoot Emmeline to prevent her from ruining their escape. When Hannah hesitates, Robbie lunges for the gun to kill Emmeline himself. To protect her sister, Hannah shoots and kills Robbie. When Teddy arrives, Emmeline declares that Robbie died by suicide, creating the official story that protects Hannah.

The contents of Hannah’s second letter reveal that she gave Grace a secret bank account, a “ticket to a new life” (468).