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Tuesday, April 22, 2008

I Forgot One

I've been looking forward to this book for so long that I forgot today was the official release date. Australian author Kate Morton makes her US debut with this haunting and gothic tale. Here's the starred review from PW. Visit KateMorton.com for more.

"This debut page-turner from Australian Morton recounts the crumbling of a prominent British family as seen through the eyes of one of its servants. At 14, Grace Reeves leaves home to work for her mother's former employers at Riverton House. She is the same age as Hannah, the headstrong middle child who visits her uncle, Lord Ashbury, at Riverton House with her siblings Emmeline and David. Fascinated, Grace observes their comings and goings and, as an invisible maid, is privy to the secrets she will spend a lifetime pretending to forget. But when a filmmaker working on a movie about the family contacts a 98-year-old Grace to fact-check particulars, the memories come swirling back. The plot largely revolves around sisters Hannah and Emmeline, who were present when a family friend, the young poet R.S. Hunter, allegedly committed suicide at Riverton. Grace hints throughout the narrative that no one knows the real story, and as she chronicles Hannah's schemes to have her own life and the curdling of younger Emmeline's jealousy, the truth about the poet's death is revealed. Morton triumphs with a riveting plot, a touching but tense love story and a haunting ending."

Already published in both Australia (as The Shifting Fog) and the UK, House at Riverton has been generating quite a bit of buzz. I can't wait to get my hands on a copy and see if it's worth the hype. I sincerely hope it is, I love these modern gothic tales and just can't get enough of them!