Hannah Richell has firmly established herself as a standout storyteller in women’s commercial fiction over the past few years, and her latest work, The River Home, is one of those rare reads that will envelop you completely.

When Margot Sorrell and her sisters reunite at their family home for a wedding, simmering tensions reignite as old wounds and histories are reopened, threatening to tear the family apart, with the old farmhouse and river they’ve grown up around the main focal point of the novel.

Slow to start, the use of third person present tense was sometimes jarring, leaving you often distanced from the characters, especially as the perspective changes through each chapter.

However, with each page, the characters began to wind their way into your heart, full of complexity and emotions, with each of the family’s story woven together in a blend of the present and the past. While the story predominately is centred around the sisters Eve and Lucy, it is the youngest, Margot, who grounds the narrative and draws you in.

Richell has a way with words, seamlessly turning what seems like trivial family angst into something more heart-wrenching that will leave you reaching for the tissue box at the end. Yet there’s a quiet sort of hope at the end, with Richell drawing on her own personal experiences to provide the reader with a touching look at how we can grow and carry on from pain, which will resonate with every reader.

Reviewed by Hannah Membrey