The Kitchen House A Novel
by Kathleen Grissom
Publication Date: Feb 2010
Critics' Opinion: Readers' Rating:
Five people will win a paperback copy of The Kitchen House.
This giveaway is open to residents of the USA only, unless you are a BookBrowse member at the time of entry, in which case you are eligible to win wherever you live.
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The winners will be selected at random from all eligible entries and will be notified by email shortly after the draw closes.
From the Jacket
Orphaned while onboard ship from Ireland, seven-year-old Lavinia arrives on the steps of a tobacco plantation where she is to live and work with the slaves of the kitchen house. Under the care of Belle, the master's illegitimate daughter, Lavinia becomes deeply bonded to her adopted family, though she is set apart from them by her white skin.
Eventually, Lavinia is accepted into the world of the big house, where the master is absent and the mistress battles opium addiction. Lavinia finds herself perilously straddling two very different worlds. When she is forced to make a choice, loyalties are brought into question, dangerous truths are laid bare, and lives are put at risk.
The Kitchen House is a tragic story of page-turning suspense, exploring the meaning of family, where love and loyalty prevail.
Reviews
"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." - Publishers Weekly
"You will be thrilled by this intimate and surprising story that connects us with an unexpected corner of our history. Kathleen Grissom gives us a new and unforgettable perspective on slavery and families and human ties in the Old South, exploring the deepest mysteries of the past that help define who we are to this day." - Robert Morgan, author of Gap Creek
"Kathleen Grissom peers into the plantation romance through the eyes of a white indentured servant inhabiting the limbo land between slavery and freedom, providing a tale that provokes new empathy for all working and longing in The Kitchen House." - Alice Randall, author of The Wind Done Gone and Rebel Yell
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