Synopsis When a white servant girl violates the order of plantation society, she unleashes a tragedy that exposes the worst and best in the people she has come to call her family.
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.
(Terra's Thoughts) Yes I know this isn't romance but thought you would enjoy a book of culture as something different from the usual. Let me tell you though that being about slavery this book is a stark reality of injustice and horrors that were committed from a time period where everything and everyone was the property of the dominant male, the land owner.
The author did an astounding job at giving you everything you need to reach out and grab your senses and wring them like a wet rag. The storyline is very solid, very educational and one that I think would be a plus in the High School classrooms throughout the USA. This is a part of our history and not one I am proud of for sure but it teaches us that we are ever so much more fortunate to have the liberties and freedom's that we have today.
I must say that I must have slept through part of history class because I was completely ignorant to the fact that there was white slavery that was no better than that of the African peoples. It seems immigrants were just as prone to the harsh realities of life even though they came looking for something better in a land that was supposed to offer Freedom and a better way of life.
This was a book that I enjoyed immensely and I do hope you will give it a shot if you are looking for a good read that is something more meaty and not all fluff and puff.
Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Touchstone; Original edition (February 2, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1439153663
ISBN-13: 978-1439153666
1 comment:
I have read about this book on several sites, most dealing with history. It is good to get a different viewpoint. Yours is a good review.
Unfortunately, you probably did miss the part about white slavery in history class. It is something that wasn't addressed. Indentured servants were mentioned, but their true situation seldom explored. Some were little better than slaves but at least had a limited time of service. What few people realize is England had a white slave trade starting in the 1600's. From 1641 to 1652 over 300,000 Irish men, women and children were sold as slaves. In the 1650's, over 100,000 Irish children from 10 to 14 were sold in the the West Indes, Virginia, and New England. If a child was born while a servant was indentured, the child belonged to the "master." When the mother finished her indentured term, she could leave, but could not take her child. Many stayed on as slaves to remain with their children.
Books like this should be on the required reading list in High Schools. It will make what really happened much more real to them.
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