What a beautiful emotional story. When Margot returns to the home she left when she was sixteen to attend her sister's wedding she reunites with the rest of her family. There is a lot of tension between her and her sisters and especially between her and her mother. There is a reason for her sister Lucy decides to get married so quickly and it has a devastating impact on them all. There are more issues and secrets that will come to light in this fantastic book and it was so heartbreaking at times that tissues are needed but I loved it .Just the kind of read I like

This is the story of a family broken apart by secrets.
The characters are well rounded and I became attached to them.
This book was unputdownable and kept me gripped.
A great book which is well written.

This is another fantastic novel from Hannah Richell that weaves the story of one family and their individual heartbreaks and struggles. In the 1980’s, Kit and Ted move into the sprawling Windfalls as aspiring writers and soon to be parents. When Kit’s career overtakes Ted’s and he becomes the main carer to their three daughters, their relationship begins to deteriorate.

In the present day, the family come together at Windfalls to celebrate the quickly arranged wedding of Lucy, the middle daughter. Tensions run high as the black sheep of the family, and youngest daughter Margot returns, and sensible reliable eldest daughter Eve surprises everyone with her recent behaviour.

Hannah Richell has a way of drawing the reader in to her stories and makes you feel that you really know the people she writes about. You are able to see each character’s perspective and feel the emotions they are experiencing. A truly talented writer.

I truly enjoyed this beautiful, haunting and heart rending book. Margot Sorrell couldn’t stand the idea of going home. She believed in moving forward, not looking back. But she receives a text from her sister Lucy in Somerset, saying simply ‘I need you’. So Margot, Lucy and the oldest sister Eve, congregate in the house they grew up in, beside the river. In such close proximity, it becomes difficult to keep the secrets they have been hiding, from themselves as much as each other. A wedding has brought the sisters together but the past may well tear this family apart. This gathering will change them all forever. They will have to confront terrible sorrow before a healing can begin, but only if they are open and tell the truth.

The author tells the story of the Sorrell siblings through different perspectives. Current events are happening in the brief ten day period of Lucy’s sudden wedding, so there’s tension straight away in the tight time period - these three have a lot of past hurt to get through. We also visit events in the past, in longer chapters that really evoke their time periods of the late 1980s, 2005 and finally 2009-10. These chapters provide a forensic analysis of the family and how they’ve suffered, with so little closure that there is still simmering hurt just under the surface. We see how the girls parents, Kit and Ted, met each other and came to be at the house. Their usual roles reversed when Kit’s career grew and suddenly she didn’t have the same time for the girls as before. She would forget things she’d promised and couldn’t be relied on any more. This affected the girls badly, it stopped them bringing friends home and when their parent’s relationship finally broke down it was Margot, the youngest sister, who was stuck at home with Kit while her sisters went to college. These strands are woven together very skilfully by the author to show that the emotions stirred up by the family unit being back together are hard to manage.

I loved how the sisters fall back into their long defined family roles as soon as they were within the family home. The atmosphere at Windfalls is darkly evocative and nostalgic. Like any family home, it is the space of our best memories, but also our greatest sorrows. The description is densely layered so I felt I was there in the room with these characters, feeling their emotions. There is duplicity, uncertainty, yearning and regret between these family members and all of it just come to the surface. Cleverly, the author chooses to keep Margot’s secrets for the end of the novel and that creates another layer of tension as the time is whiled away and yet there are still so many things left unanswered. Once we get to the pivotal moment that still affect Margot to this day, it’s so painful and distressing. The family have always put her behaviour before she left home down to the family upheaval, but there is so much more than that and we really understand why she becomes the woman she is now. The shock of this is compounded by another event, this time in the present, that could be difficult for some people to read.
Margot changed deeply. What happens starts a long held resentment towards the family and her estrangement from her sisters, but also begins a cycle of self loathing and destruction. It’s not just the pain of the incident itself, it’s the fact that no one noticed. No one delves deeper or offers to help, and in these circumstances the family member turns their anger inward - how can someone develop self-worth when they’re so overlooked? Any attempt to help would now be too late and suddenly Margot’s actions make more sense. I shed tears for Margot, but also felt very deeply for Lucy. There are many dysfunctional family novels out there, but I felt that the author was psychologically astute and insightful. The characters are so well drawn and I felt completely swept away with their story and how this homecoming feels for them. My parents moved out of our childhood home a few years ago and it was strangely painful. I still haven’t been able to go back because it would feel odd to see strangers playing in the garden, where so much family drama played out. I would feel like a ghost, haunting the place I couldn’t leave behind. Where we grow up has seen so much; the full ebb and flow of family life. The energy of these events is somehow imprinted on the atmosphere like an emotional photograph. Sometimes, we have to to go back and confront these events, before we can truly understand them, to process them as a family and finally move forward with some sense of healing and acceptance.

I’m heartsore.

Hannah Richell strips everything right back to the darkest of times in her character’s lives, ultimately shining the light in the shadows so that emotions can heal and life move forward.

What to say? Each sister has life changing events – one in the past, one approaching and the other happening now. Kit has lost her way. I was emotionally attached to all four women and loved them each equally.

The themes that are explored are written about sensitively although hard-hitting and emotional. There are scenes that made me cry ugly tears and others that filled me with love and belonging. Some things I sussed but others left me open mouthed, making me pause and reflect for a while. One thing for sure, I was so involved that I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough!

The Sorrel family will live with me for a long time. I was carried along in their whirls and ripples, at times drowning and at others being lifted up and buoyant. This is one of my top reads of 2020.

Wow what an incredible story Hannah Richell's fourth book The River Home was. What a journey I was taken on with the Sorrell family as they gather to celebrate the unexpected wedding of daughter Lucy who announced her intentions to marry only a week before the actual date. This was a beautifully written book with the plot so carefully constructed and developed. It is an emotional, raw and very powerful read with words chosen to make the reader stop and contemplate their meaning and significance with regard to whatever character you are reading about. You feel deep compassion for every family member, each one of which is struggling with secrets, pain and heartache although you may not like all of them.

Now that they have been called to gather together perhaps it is the time for everything to come rushing to the surface, for truths will have to spill forth. Will these revelations bring acceptance, peace, forgiveness and understanding or will the devastation and hurt just become ever stronger? 'No matter how deep you bury the pain, the bones of it will rise up to haunt you, like the sickly scent of those apples, like the echoes of a summer's night, like the river flowing relentlessly on its course.' The river as mentioned here plays a crucial role throughout the book. It becomes like a character in itself and it is never far from the forefront of the girls minds for many different reasons.

Margot has not been back to the family home, Windfalls, since she upped and left without a specific and concrete explanation over eight years ago. She did announce she was leaving and Kit her mother, the successful author who has now become reclusive and unable to write, had her suspicions as to why Margot was departing and did feel it was for the best. Margot would much rather not return to the family home where so many memories echo in the hallways, through the gardens and along the river. But Lucy has requested her presence and so she will do her duty and then escape back to Edinburgh as quickly as possible. It's evident from the beginning that Margot is seen as the black sheep of the family. Clearly something major occurred that has created such hostility and contempt between Margot and Kit, the roots of which will slowly become apparent as the author drip feeds us clues. The revelations only occur in the last 20-25% of the book but this only serves to keep the reader reading ever faster to get to what actually happened and why and to see how the fallout is dealt with.

Margot has built walls around herself and is fearful of letting anyone in. Her pain resounds with every word she utters and action she takes. She can't seem to let go of what is burdening her and sisters Lucy and Eve have no way of cracking her exterior. Or maybe they didn't push hard enough as they were and still are too wrapped up in their own lives. From the minute that Margot arrives at the house and with only a few days of frantic preparation for the wedding, tensions simmer and grow ever stronger and really this is not the way a family unit should be. 'The urge to pick at past wounds, is rising up, a terrible itch that will only be sated by sharp words.' Pain and frustration are commonplace for Margot and the reader thinks it must have been something so catastrophic and painful that occurred all those years ago to lead to such excruciating conflict and pain.

There was all such a big build up to it that I really didn't want to be let down when eventually everything came rushing out. That sounds silly to say but I didn't want a sense of disappointment as in oh is is that all that happened? But when I discovered everything I felt guilty for thinking this earlier on for I was left dumbfounded, an emotional wreck and in shock. I almost didn't want to read on and not because the book took a turn for the worse and became a terrible read no in fact the complete opposite. The threads woven seamlessly together unravelled with the most of appalling of truths finally emerging and I was almost anxious as to what the next turn of the page would bring because I didn't want the inevitable to happen.

At times, I disliked Margot for her attitude towards her family but by the end everything made perfect sense, every action she had taken, every word and opinion she had offered. It was all justified and the sad thing is it should never have been allowed to happen, fester and develop the way it did. Communication is key and unfortunately it is something lacking in all the characters. 'The past can have a funny way of haunting us if we don't face it head on. Ghosts can linger.' Now for the Sorrell family the ghosts are starting to rise but is each family member prepared to hear what they have to say?

Eve is the eldest sister and the one who is seen as having everything perfect and altogether in her life. She did what was expected of her - went to university, met a man, married and had children. She is the one fussing about all the arrangements for the wedding and getting things done in such a short space of time and feels as if the others couldn't care less. She feels on the outer fringes when it comes to Margot and Lucy's relationship and so makes up for it with a constant need to direct others, to guide them and smooth the way when things go wrong. But she needs to step back and let people make their own mistakes and perhaps look at her own personal and family life. Is Eve as together as she seems or is her own carefully constructed world beginning to crumble? Perhaps she is not as wholesome and sweet as she first appears? She sees the fractures in the family but what will she do about it or will she only further add to them? The cosy, balanced life she has worked so hard to create is falling away from her and she is desperate to stop this happening but has she been too reckless in running away from all her responsibilities.

Kit was an enigma and her ex partner Ted and father to the girls I felt was the same. Although we did get to know and understand them somewhat through periods of the book which focused on past memories and recollections. I thought it was brilliant to have these points in the book as reading about the past and the memories it evoked gave us a greater understanding and appreciation of present events and the emotional viewpoints of various characters. One person I did think was definitely under used was Sibella, Ted's wife. She was so wise and gave such good advice with just a few words. She was calm, cool and collected and so in tune with nature and her artistic side. I really wanted her to feature more. Whereas with Kit, I couldn't warm to her at all. She seemed so cold and stand offish and that to get beneath her exterior to see what was going on with her would take quite some work.

As for Lucy, she is the catalyst that pulls the fractured family together. She has her own business and is a free spirit who loves yoga and all things mindfulness. But why has she rushed into marriage so quickly? The mystery element that surrounded her pervaded throughout the majority of the book and I could never quite put my finger on what was actually going on. Margot was the primary character in the beginning but then Lucy took over in the later quarter.

The River Home is an outstanding read for so many reasons and it is very difficult to put into words just why this is the case. The exploration of family dynamics is executed to perfection. It shows how secrets, guilt, anger, love, hate, disappointment and hurt can eat away at us unless we confront things head on. I couldn't recommend this book highly enough yes at times it is a difficult read but at those junctures stop and take time to comprehend what you have read and then come back to it. I think the scene between Jonas and Margot on the morning of the wedding was outstanding and breathtaking. So real, raw and stark which as honesty was pouring forth it needed to be. I don't know Hannah Richell made it through writing such an emotional and heartbreaking book but I am glad she did because it has been a highlight of my reading year so far and a book I would have been gutted to have missed out on. Read this as soon as you can. It's an utter triumph for the author.

Margot Sorrell did not want to go back to the family home in Somerset. She's tried all her adult life not to look back. But her sister, Lucy had sent her a text. Lucy was getting g married. So, Margot, Lucy and older sister, Eve are reunited together with their parents. But they are all harbouring secrets. And sooner or later it's all going to implode.

This story about a dysfunctional family had me hooked from the beginning. It's told from multiple points of view. It shows how damaging it can be to hold on to secrets. Margo, Lucy and Eve are three very different women, even though they are sisters. Their father had walked out on them all. A story of reunion and resentments. The pace is steady and the tension builds slowly. The characters are complex but likeable. The story is well written and the scenery is well described. Indid feel the ending was a it rushed.

I would like to thank NetGalley, Orion Publishing Group and the author Hannah Richell for my ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A well written family saga. Slow paced to start with but building to a highly emotional crescendo of a climax.

An excellent story of a family, engrossing and full of emotions.
The story builds up the tension slowly but it keeps you hooked and you get involved in the plot.
The characters are well thought and the setting is vivid.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Having previously read Hannah Richell’s work this one didn’t quite come alive for me until the very end.

The premise of this story is nothing particularly new. A large house and a troubled family within it. The story of three sisters Eve, Lucy and Margot whose childhood is less than perfect due to their flighty, author mother Kit who was permanently writing and their father who leaves the family home to marry another woman.

Throughout the book there was plenty of hints at a more interesting story beneath the surface but we don’t really have this revealed until about 4/5ths into the book. I truly feel that these revelations should have come much earlier as the potential for the story would have been so much greater. All of the detail prior had been constructed well and the writing was evocative however the well tuned ending was rushed and was the best part of the book. Had it been expanded on could really have produced something special.

Lucy is getting married. A perfect time for the family to come together & be reunited after years apart. If only it were that simple. Lucy is not focusing on her day in the way that her sister Eve would like. So Eve steps in to organise things with military precision whilst struggling to keep her seemingly perfect family together. Will Margot come? The wild child who seems so brittle. Then there is self-centred author Mother, Kit and Dad with his new wife. Can the wedding bring the fractured family together or will it just drive them further apart?
I really enjoyed this book. A dysfunctional family is not a new thing in literature - or indeed real life! However I felt the author tackled it well with very believable tensions & reactions between the family members. The characters are interesting and three dimensional. There is so much each one is saying but what they aren't saying is just as significant.
A well written book with excellent characterisation and family dimensions. Definitely an author that I will seek out again.
I received a free copy of this book via Netgalley.

The River Home starts slowly but builds up tension as the story unfolds. The characters are well-drawn and, despite their very human foibles, are easy to warm to.

Lucy is getting married at short notice at the family home in Somerset and wants her sisters, Eve and Margot, to be there. But Margot fell out badly with their mother, successful novelist Kit, when she was 15 years old and refuses to apologise.

While all the sisters' stories are told it is Margot's which takes centre stage. Both Eve and Lucy had left home when Kit and their father split up and he married another woman. For eight years Margot has seethed with anger and frustration, a deeply unhappy and troubled young woman.

Secrets and misunderstandings are disclosed at the wedding and readers should be prepared to shed a few tears. One plotline revealed near the end regarding a baby I felt was one too many and wasn't really needed to make this an already riveting read.

I enjoyed The River Home very much and recommend it but there are triggers which some might find difficult. Many thanks to NetGalley and Orion for the opportunity to read and review the book.

I really enjoyed this book and would happily read the author again. Both tragic and evocative this novel wove through a family and their story leaving you wanting more. Thank you.

This is a moving story of family love, lies and consequences that draws you in and leaves you with a sense of the hope and despair that makes up the pattern of lives.

Three sisters, daughters of a famous and successful novelist mother, are reunited for a family wedding where old and new stories play out on a broad canvas.

The book is well-written and makes you care about the characters, there are lovely descriptions of relationships between the different characters and enough gaps left unsaid between.

There’s a lovely sense of the strength of love to overcome adversity and to keep the most precious bonds.

I found this book slow to start with and not easy to get into but I am so glad I persevered. A seemingly loving but dysfunctional family of adult children and their separated parents are the chief protagonists but this novel is about so much more. There are long hidden secrets, abandonment, and betrayal, but above all love and the joy of living with all our human foibles and weaknesses.