Changes

When I was fifty or sixty pages in to this book someone asked me if I was enjoying it. 'It's interesting' I said 'but a little slow to get going'. Grace went to Riverton just before the outbreak of the First World War and there, in exquisite detail, is the picture of the house, of society, of a country on the eve of war and monumental change. Men from Riverton will die in the war but this will bring Grace into contact with the Hartfords. Socially they're from very different backgrounds but they're much of an age and Grace feel herself drawn to them and particularly to Hannah, the elder sister.

Few novels are as well-researched as ''The House at Riverton''. There's a bibliography that would put many a non-fiction book to shame and in consequence the book has a rich background. There's a feeling that the author knew more, far more than she has mentioned - unlike many period novels where it's difficult to escape the conclusion that every known fact has been mined for all it's worth. It's wide ranging too - I shivered with the house maids through the winter nights and drooled at the food the cooks produced in the big houses. I felt the yawning gulf between the different levels of society. Splendid stuff.