by Kelly Burton

Created on: July 10, 2009

Summer 1924:
By the lake of an English Country House, two sisters witness a young poet taking his own life. The sisters never speak to each other again.

Winter 1999:
One time housemaid of Riverton, Grace Bradley, now 98, is approached by a Director who is making a film about the death of the poet at the lake. Grace begins to remember the ghosts of the past and memories, lies and secrets surface of the time she spent at Riverton - the young sisters weren't the only ones to witness the young poets death...

This story is taken from the point of view from the now elderly Grace Bradley as she sits in her retirement home speaking in a Dictaphone to her missing grandson. Grace herself is an extremely strong and likeable character, her mind is still sharp and her memories of that time have clearly been repressed all these years - I really got a great sense that I was about to be let in on a deep and dark secret that people had not known before.
The way in which this story is told is beautifully written; Grace gently takes us through her time spent, her memories and her feelings for each of the characters and it is clear that although her role as a servant in the house mostly goes unnoticed, Grace rarely missed anything when it came to her Mistresses especially.

For most of the book, Grace's history concerns itself mainly with that of the two sisters and their relationship with each other and those around them. I felt that the author built up a fantastic mental picture of the sisters Emmeline and Hannah and I loved their slow development into the opposite of what they both wanted as children. However, I found it interesting reading about the relationship between Hannah and Grace, and It was hard not to feel sympathy for both women in very different ways. Although on the outside they were completely different, growing up in very different backgrounds, each woman wanted desperately to escape, but each woman had an amazing capacity to bend to what their society wanted of them - Grace to stay faithfully at the side of her Mistress Hannah, and Hannah to do what is expected as a Lady - even if it doesn't turn out the way she had hoped. Hannah's strength and spirit throughout the book was a very likeable trait and I loved the way in which Grace just simply adored her.

Probably the best aspect of this book aside from the way In which it is so beautifully told, is that the story unravels slowly, and in no way can you guess the outcome of all the people involved at the time

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