I enjoyed Kate Morton’s The Forgotten Garden so much that I couldn’t wait long to read her debut novel, The House at Riverton, even though I harbored some doubts that it could compare. Well, it did, and then some. I think I actually liked The House at Riverton more, although that’s a bit like asking whether I prefer milk chocolate or dark chocolate. They’re both chocolate and that’s what’s important!

Grace Reeves is a 98-year-old woman living in an English nursing home. Reflecting back on her long life, she is plagued by a secret she has kept for far too long. There is more to the apparent suicide of a young poet, a veteran of the first World War and friend of the family to whom she was in service at the time of the tragedy, than what everyone else believes, including a young filmmaker, Ursula, who has enlisted Grace’s help in recreating that fateful night.

In 1914, Grace is only 14 years old when she is sent to live and work at the Riverton estate as a housemaid. Her mother, in service there before Grace was born, warns her to do a good job and not to forget her place. In the time before the war, when a strict class system clearly defined the difference between the people upstairs and those that served them downstairs, young Grace enters an unknown world filled with secrets. She takes her position very seriously and feels honored to be part of the household, and is particularly in awe of the children, Hannah, Emmeline, and David. The war, eagerly anticipated and woefully underestimated, changes them all irrevocably. Grace, now living in London as a lady’s maid to Hannah, remains unabashedly devoted to her mistress, a devotion that will ultimately lead to devastating consequences for all involved.

Since the reader knows from the beginning that Grace is keeping secrets, the tension starts right away and continues to build throughout the novel, until its startling and tragic climax. There are other secrets that the reader suspects before Grace discovers them, and that knowledge also contributes to the tight-wire feel of the book. The breakdown of a society’s social mores and its transformation into modernity also makes for riveting reading, and anyone interested in this time period is sure to enjoy this book and its characters, particularly Grace, who is as engaging a character at 98 as she is at 14.

Now the difficult part will be deciding which of these books, The Forgotten Garden or The House at Riverton, will rank among my favorite books this year. One thing is for certain, Kate Morton has a new fan, and I can’t wait to read her next book.