The River House

by Margaret Leroy

Book Overview

The novel's story line revolves around a single moment that threatens to unravel a woman's entire life and will appeal to readers of Jane Hamilton, Sue Miller and Ann Packet.

Postcards from Berlin, Leroy's previous novel, was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and is being developed by the BBC into a television drama.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0316741574
• ISBN13: 9780316741576
• Release Date: June 2005
• Publisher: Little Brown and Company
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.97 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.7" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Repercussions abound in "The River House"

Ginnie Holmes is a therapist dealing with troubled youth in the city of London. At work, where she appears to be professionally in control, she feels that she has lost something and is unable to help many of her patients. At home, her marriage that was never a hot bed of passion, seems to have gone stone cold and in exact opposite of the energy of their two teenage daughters. Her husband intends to move into their oldest daughter's bedroom as soon as she is off to Oxford and for Ginnie that is further proof that whatever dreams she had for reconnection aren't shared by her husband, Greg. Ginnie is drifting with no real direction or impetus to change things and walks through her days with a heavy melancholy feeling. That is until she meets Detective Inspector Will Hampden in the course of getting family background on one of her young patients. Will is everything her academic style husband, Greg, is not. She is emotionally as well as physically drawn to him within seconds of their first meeting and the feeling is mutual. Ginnie hurtles willingly into the affair as Will makes her feel things she hasn't felt in years and she is secure in the knowledge that she can keep it a secret. But their meeting place, a small decrepit building along the river represents not only the sordidness of their affair but a turning point for all involved. It is there, when she is with Will that she looks out past him and sees through the small window something she never should have seen and wouldn't if she hadn't been there at that precise moment in time. What she saw could very well be evidence in a case that threatens to be a media sensation as well as what could destroy what is left of her marriage and family. Faced with a choice between revealing all and destroying what she knows and keeping silent and inadvertently aiding a possible murderer, Ginnie must decide what to do and find a way to accept her decision and its inevitable consequences. This is a highly atmospheric read that involves deep character study and complex moral questions as the book goes forward. The thin line between passion and violence is examined at length as well as the concepts of marriage, adultery, and moral responsibility in regards to self and society at large. This is not escapist reading in any sense and instead is a novel that will make the reader think about a variety of issues long after the book is closed. This cozy style novel moves forward slowly, which heightens the suspense as Ginnie embarks on her own personal version of a Greek tragedy. This entire review previously appeared online at OnceWritten. Kevin R. Tipple © 2005

"Everyone has the mist floating over the land..."

Ginnie Holmes, a psychologist, lives in a house in London near the Thames River, with her husband, Greg, and sixteen-year old daughter, Amber. Another daughter, Molly, has just left for college. Ginny has grown comfortable with her life, in spite of the noticeable emotional distance from Greg, who is writing a book and plans to sleep in Molly's newly vacated room until he has finished. At her job, working with a traumatized young boy, Ginnie requests additional information from a detective who was once called to the boy's house; Ginnie hopes the detective can add some insights into the boy's lack of responsiveness in therapy. When Ginnie meets Will Hampton, the two are instantly attracted. Never before unfaithful to Greg, Ginnie is amazed how easily she falls into a clandestine affair with Will. The couple has little privacy until they discover a deserted, ramshackle house on the Thames during one of their walks, with enough privacy to shield them from prying eyes. The shabby river house becomes a haven for their weekly rendezvous. Then there is a brutal murder near the river house; the careful security Ginnie has relished is replaced by fear and imminent danger. A woman of a certain age, Ginnie has, for the most part, treasured her life, her job, husband and daughters, vaguely aware of the absence of passion in her marriage. When she begins the romantic liaison with Will, she attempts to compartmentalize, deceiving herself that these two worlds will never infringe on each other. The brutal crime changes this blissful isolation and Ginnie is forced top confront the ugly reality of infidelity: that others, by association, are involved and can be wounded. Her middle age defined by the infinite pressures of family, the illnesses and deaths that take the bright shine from the future, Ginnie has grasped a lifeline to that carefree time of romance and unfettered passion reserved for the young, thinking it possible to rediscover it, if only for a while. Of course, she is mistaken, the consequences and responsibilities standing sentinel just around the corner. Leroy writes delicately of place and time, her protagonist caught in an emotional dilemma. The river house is indeed awash in silvery light and secrecy, her daughters sparkle with youthful intensity and the sense of danger, once it strikes, is pervasive. But Ginnie has developed a pattern of permissiveness and it is that which will call her to account: her marriage with Greg passive and boring, making her vulnerable to the sudden rush of passion for a new man; and she is increasingly apathetic with her daughter, letting Amber shirk her responsibilities to pursue youthful enjoyments. Glorying in Amber's beauty and promise, perhaps Ginnie confuses herself with her daughter for a time, ignoring her parental role. In this psychological tale of one woman's descent into unfamiliar territory, Ginnie is blindsided by events, unbridled passion and violence rushing in, altering forever her perception of t

A Touching Story That is Both and Tragic and Beautiful

The River House is a novel that accurately portrays what happens to many of us as we age and realize that dreams usually don't come true in the ways we quite hoped. When we're younger and more ambitious, we hold on to things that give us security to make it through the days, thinking that these very things will be the ones that will enable us to achieve the most and become our best. Ginnie, the main character in the novel, is one of those women. She has devoted her life to her two children, Amber and Molly, and her career as a psychologist helping troubled children. Unfortunately, her marriage is more of a close friendship. Her husband and her haven't made love in years and marriage counseling has failed. When her older daughter, Molly, moves out for school, she thinks that time alone is what they need to reclaim magic they never really had. But she finds out the magic isn't there because it's not possible. Sinking into a depression that is flavored by a personal friend's unhappiness with her own life, she eventually allows herself to be pulled into passion for the first time. These internal struggles are the real heart of The River House. Ginnie is a sympathetic, believable character who doesn't necessarily make the most socially accepted choices, but she does this with a heavy conscience and something that we can all relate to. Her grief, exhaustion, and hunger for youth and real attention will get to you. It reminds the reader that life truly is short and that you need to make the right choices when you can. It's never easy to tell what's really important and valuable, no matter how old you are or what position of life you're in. You have to sacrifice greatly at times and it's not always fair. The pacing of the book is rather slow, but it fits this type of genre. It is all told through the first person point of view, which strongly enables the reader to sit tightly in the leads head. Her emotions come through easily, and the pages are filled with genuine emotion and life. Author Leroy writes beautiful words, showing off an admirable classy talent, having each scene a joy to read simply because it's so expertly put. On the down side of things, more energy into various scenes would have spruced this book up. If more tension had been placed, or more action somewhere, it would have rated even higher. As it stands, reading this novel will make your head feel dreamy and almost unreal; not an easy feat for any author to pull off. A touching story that is both tragic and beautiful in it's own way - much like real life.

"As we grow older the world becomes stranger"

Ginnie Homes is a child psychologist in her early forties. She's raising two beautiful children, Molly, who is heading to Oxford, and Amber, who at sixteen, is still living at home. But lately life has been full of dissatisfactions: Greg, her lecturer husband, has gradually been moving away from her, too wrapped up in his academic work to have much time for her and the kids. She loves her home, which is close to the river Thames, but she and Greg haven't made love for years. Gradually she begins to realize that her relationship with Greg isn't the sort of marriage she had hoped for. She admits that she saw his detachment as a kind of peacefulness, a safety she knew she needed. With Molly now gone and Amber about to leave, Ginnie had hoped that she could recapture some of the romantic zest of her earlier years. But Greg remains removed and absent, simply taking over Molly's bedroom for his own use. Ginnie loves her work, attending to the needs of troubled children, but she's lost the shiny hopefulness she used to have. She admits, "as you get older it changes. You learn how deep the scars go." When Ginnie meets police officer, Detective Inspector Will Hampden, whom she consults about one of her patients, their attraction is instantaneous. The two begin a clandestine affair, escaping every Thursday for a secret meeting on a river path walk, and later to a run-down wooden building - a river house. It's a secluded house where even the river seems quiet. Where the whole place belongs to them, "this dull, hushed world, the russet slime of the braken, and the cries of the gulls. " One afternoon, while the two lovers are passionately embracing, Ginnie spies a man through the river house window, hurriedly walking along the river path. When that man's wife is found murdered shortly thereafter, her battered body dredged from the river, Ginnie is faced with a life altering moral dilemma. Should she disclose to the police her sighting of the man and risk her affair becoming public? If she goes public she risks devastating her teenage daughters and her distant but faithful husband, while also putting Will's frail marriage at risk. The River House is an exquisitely written novel; with author Margaret Leroy quietly drawing the reader into this tension-fuelled domestic drama. The narrative - part romance and part mystery - is full of pathos, mid-life disappointment, and personal redemption, as Ginnie, trapped in a loveless marriage, must make the decision whether to place the greater moral good above her own clandestine indiscretions. Leroy revels in the intimacies of ordinary lives, and the characters are all too real. Ginnie gets-together with her friends, and talks about her sense of middle-aged emptiness, she's in constantly conflict with the rebellious Amber, who won't study hard enough and spends too much time going out, and she worries about her aging mother, who has recently been diagnosed with a brain tumor. As Ginnie thinks of making l

A deep psychological suspense thriller

Westcotes Clinic psychologist Ginnie Holmes feels out of sorts that so her colleague asks if she suffers from burnout. Ginnie is concerned that her daughter Molly is leaving the nest to attend Oxford, but still has Amber at home and her spouse Greg. Perhaps it is her client seven years old Kyle, who she suspects has suffered a major trauma that leaves her uneasy, but mostly when she is honest with herself it is her affair with Detective Inspector Will Hampden that she treasures yet feels guilty about. During a rendezvous with Will, Molly looking out a window notices a man running in a downpour. Will insists the guy is a jogger or just trying to get out of the torrent, but Molly insists he did not have jogging clothing on and had no reason to be in this isolated spot. Not long afterward, the media announces that a murdered female corpse has been found near the spot where Will and Molly last met. She believes she saw the killer and should come forward with her information, but to explain why she was there means the destruction of her family including the disdain from her daughters. THE RIVER HOUSE is a deep psychological suspense thriller that slowly builds the suspense with a close look at an already troubled Molly before she witnesses the probable killer fleeing the crime scene. Once Molly realizes she must choose between losing everything perhaps even her lover or remain silent and letting a murderer remain free, fans will feel her internal torment that rips asunder her guts. This tense character driven tale along with POSTCARDS FROM BERLIN displays Margaret Leroy's skill at a person's mental collapse. Harriet Klausner