A review by readingontheprairie
The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom
4.0
While working my way through this book from both the POVs of Lavinia, a seven year old white orphan, and Belle, an enslaved woman that is the illegitimate daughter of the plantation owner, I felt the immense sadness, fear, hatred and heartbreak that radiated from within the pages. The horrors in this story are weaved together harmoniously with a strong and beautiful found family and because of that, my heart also felt a profound sense of love and hope.
This story is a nice balance of plot and character driven and by the end of the book I found myself extremely attached to the story and the characters-the character development was phenomenally done. As the story was concluding and loyalties were being put to the test while truths were being brought to light, I was on the edge of my seat, my stomach full of knots and my heart was feeling so many intense emotions. What a powerful and moving book!
As I said at the end of my review for Yellow Wife, stories like this are devastating, and it is hard to believe that this is a very real part of history. The author was inspired to write this story after finding an old map during the renovation of her own plantation tavern!
This story gives us a peak into a beautiful little found family within the confines of plantation life and the horrors that they endured, the dark secrets they kept, and the powerful love they shared. Although I will never even come close to understanding the fear and terror that comes along with living this way-if you could even call it “living”-I will continually educate myself on this time in history.
This story is a nice balance of plot and character driven and by the end of the book I found myself extremely attached to the story and the characters-the character development was phenomenally done. As the story was concluding and loyalties were being put to the test while truths were being brought to light, I was on the edge of my seat, my stomach full of knots and my heart was feeling so many intense emotions. What a powerful and moving book!
As I said at the end of my review for Yellow Wife, stories like this are devastating, and it is hard to believe that this is a very real part of history. The author was inspired to write this story after finding an old map during the renovation of her own plantation tavern!
This story gives us a peak into a beautiful little found family within the confines of plantation life and the horrors that they endured, the dark secrets they kept, and the powerful love they shared. Although I will never even come close to understanding the fear and terror that comes along with living this way-if you could even call it “living”-I will continually educate myself on this time in history.