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The River Home

A Novel

Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

From beloved international bestselling author Hannah Richell comes a spellbinding novel about the secrets brought to the surface when a large family gathers for a wedding.

Can the damage of the past ever be healed?

In their ramshackle Somerset home, with its lush gardens running down to the river, the Sorrells have gathered for a last-minute wedding—an occasion that is met with trepidation by each member of the family.

Lucy, the bride, has begged her loved ones to attend—not telling them that she has some important news to share once they've gathered. Her prodigal baby sister, Margot, who left home after a devastating argument with their mother, reluctantly agrees, though their family home is the site of so much pain for her. Meanwhile, their eldest sister, Eve, has thrown herself into a tailspin planning the details of the wedding—anything to distract herself from how her own life is unraveling—and their long-separated artist parents are forced to play the roles of cheerful hosts through gritted teeth.

As the Sorrells come together for a week of celebration and confrontation, their painful memories are revisited and their relationships stretched to the breaking point.

Moving, poignant, and unforgettable, The River Home showcases once again Hannah Richell's talent for creating characters readers can relate to—and telling stories that linger in the mind long after the final page.

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    • Library Journal

      Starred review from July 1, 2020

      At a British country home called Windfalls, middle daughter Lucy Sorrell wishes to reunite her estranged family by inviting them all to the happy yet spontaneous occasion of her wedding. The biggest crack in her family's foundation is the rift between her youngest sister, Margot, and their mother, best-selling romance author Kit Weaver; at 17, Margo set fire to and destroyed Kit's writing studio containing the unfinished manuscript of her novel. Richell's (Secrets of the Tides) latest is an amazing work of Brit lit/women's fiction, a tearjerker about love, loss, family, secrets, and the courage of carrying on, focusing on the relationships among sisters, mothers, and daughters. Set mostly in the present with occasional trips into the recent past to fill in blanks, this character-driven tale flows effortlessly with the author's descriptive prose painting every emotional scene with care. Her skill at peeling away the layers of and revealing the raw pain in this incredibly complicated family is exemplary and extremely important to the narrative. VERDICT Fans of Karen White, Kristin Hannah, Barbara Delinsky, and fantastic women's fiction will have difficulty putting down this novel.--Debbie Haupt, St. Charles City-Cty. Lib. Dist., St. Peters, MO

      Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Kirkus

      June 1, 2020
      Blessed with youth, love, and promise, Ted and Kit move into an idyllic country home, but years later their relationship has failed and each of their three adult daughters is burdened with a threatening secret. "This is the place," life model Kit tells playwright Ted when she first sees Windfalls, the gorgeous if neglected English farmhouse set above an orchard and a river in Somerset. But this picture-perfect setting becomes the backdrop to jealousy, postnatal depression, sexual violence, and arson in British author Richell's latest novel, a family drama that follows simply delineated characters along clear grooves. Free-spirited Kit becomes a neglectful mother but a successful popular novelist; Ted's early promise is stalled by writer's block until he finds release elsewhere. Oldest daughter Eve grows into a busy mother with an obsessive eye for detail. Middle sister Lucy is "ridiculously na�ve and chaotic" while volatile Margot, who dropped out of school at 16, is "the Queen of Self-Sabotage." A giveaway prologue hints too heavily toward Margot's share of the family's mysteries; meanwhile, Lucy and Eve are keeping their own secrets. But all will come to a boil during the tense days running up to Lucy's suddenly announced wedding, to be held informally in a tent in the Windfalls orchard. This, then, is the place where pain will finally be shared and the family chess pieces rearranged on the board. Richell's uncomplicated tale-spinning, along with her devotion to lovely landscapes and boho-chic interiors, propels her narrative forward at a smooth pace, gliding over implausibilities to deliver a polished blend of romance, tragedy, and family feeling. A brimming glassful of apple-scented summer escapism.

      COPYRIGHT(2020) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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