The Kitchen House
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4.5 • 21 Ratings
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- £6.99
Publisher Description
‘You must not become too friendly with them,’ she said. ‘They are not the same as us.’
‘How?’ I asked. ‘How are they not the same?’
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When seven-year-old Irish orphan Lavinia is transported to Virginia to work in the kitchen of a wealthy plantation owner, she is absorbed into the life of the kitchen house and becomes part of the family of black slaves whose fates are tied to the plantation.
But Lavinia’s skin will always set her apart, whether she wishes it or not. And as she grows older, she will be torn between the life that awaits her as a white woman and the people she knows as kin…
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A compelling, powerful and poignant coming-of-age story about the fragility of family,and where love and loyalty prevail.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Grissom's unsentimental debut twists the conventions of the antebellum novel just enough to give readers an involving new perspective on what would otherwise be fairly stock material. Lavinia, an orphaned seven-year-old white indentured servant, arrives in 1791 to work in the kitchen house at Tall Oaks, a Tidewater, Va., tobacco plantation owned by Capt. James Pyke. Belle, the captain's illegitimate half-white daughter who runs the kitchen house, shares narration duties, and the two distinctly different voices chronicle a troublesome 20 years: Lavinia becomes close to the slaves working the kitchen house, but she can't fully fit in because of her race. At 17, she marries Marshall, the captain's brutish son turned inept plantation master, and as Lavinia ingratiates herself into the family and the big house, racial tensions boil over into lynching, rape, arson, and murder. The plantation's social order's emphasis on violence, love, power, and corruption provides a trove of tension and grit, while the many nefarious doings will keep readers hooked to the twisted, yet hopeful, conclusion.
Customer Reviews
Truly amazing
An amazing story that kept me gripped from start to finish. Often I feel writers include pointless descriptions that stories could easily be without, but not The Kitchen House. I became so attached to the characters and my imagination painted such vivid scenes from the way Grissom explained the story. I felt such emotion over the tragic situations and was sad to see the end of this book and to say goodbye to the characters I had come to love. Truly great read, one of my all time favorite books.
Impressive First Novel
The Author has put much effort, research, time and energy into this novel, let alone the proverbial blood, sweat and tears too, I would imagine! Read the epilogue and 'about the author' before you start reading as this will give you insight into the foundational promptings for this amazing story/history and the ongoing guidance the author received along the way.
The only reason I gave this book a four star instead of a five was that as there are so many characters in the story I would have liked each one to be initially more fleshed out in order to recognise each person other than just mainly by their name. Having the story told by alternating between the two main characters obviously limited the chances of describing each of the characters as there was not an omnipresent voice that had the luxury to do this. However the characters evolve along the journey organically and the book was insightful and informative, moving and eye-opening.
If not already in the pipeline, this book will make a good film.
Great read
Really interesting book, had me gripped from the start. Though the end trails off a bit you could relate to the character easily whether likeable or not. Great for a new writer.