The House at Riverton

The House at Riverton by Kate Morton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

At 14 Grace was fortunate to start service, as her mother did many years before, at Riverton, where the wealthy Hartford family lived. She watched the three golden haired, blue-eyed Hartford grandchildren, all near her own age, grow up and totally fell under their spell - David, Hannah, and Emmaline. Over the years, Grace took on the role of a lady's maid, helped dress the young women, and was privy to their conversations and secrets. Enter World War I, the Lord of the manor and his son, the Major, both fall in France, and Riverton and the world are changed forever. Hannah marries to escape, taking Grace with her, only to find that there is no escape, only boredom, but does find kinship and romance with her brother's best friend, Robbie - now a poet but Emmaline's love interest as well. The story ends with a scandalous event that no one knew Grace was privy to. Now 98 and failing, Grace is determined that her only grandson will know the truth.

The Great War changed so much, as all wars do, and social classes lost a foothold..the story is haunting as in how secrets were handled in that era, women were handled with kid gloves and not accepted into exclusive male conversations. ...for lovers of Upstairs/Downstairs and viewers of Downton Abbey..

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