By Kathleen Grissom
⭐⭐⭐⭐ ½(Goodreads: 4.22)
GENRE: Historical Fiction
PART OF A SERIES? Yes (is followed by Glory Over Everything)
WORTH READING? Yes
SUMMARY:
Transported via ship from Ireland, seven-year-old Lavinia arrives at a southern tobacco plantation in the US, where she is to live and work with the slaves of the kitchen house. The master’s illegitimate daughter, Belle, takes care of her. Although she is set apart from them by her white skin, she forms deep bonds with many members of her adopted family.
The master of the big house is frequently absent and the mistress battles a laudanum addiction.
When Lavinia is forced to choose between the two very different worlds she’s inhabiting, loyalties are brought into question, truths are laid bare, and lives are put at risk.
Opening line: 'There was a strong smell of smoke, and new fear fueled me.'
The Kitchen House is set in the late 18th century and early 19th century. It explores multiple themes, including death, friendship, family (and the fact that this can be both related and not), race, slavery, class, gender, addiction, inequality, injustices, bias and abuse (in all its ghastly shapes and sizes).
Kathleen Grissom has excellent character development, from the main characters right down to the smaller roles. They all have very distinct and different voices, particularly shown by the way characters speak.
The Kitchen House is told in two voices: Lavinia and Belle.
Lavinia – 7 years old (turns 8 during the book, a fact about which she’s adorably proud), an orphaned Irish immigrant. Brought in by ‘the captain’ to work in the kitchen house. But Lavinia ends up being much more than ‘just a kitchen worker’.
Belle – 18 years old, lives partially in two worlds, as her father is the white plantation owner.
Miss Martha (the ‘lady of the house’) has an addiction to laudanum (a tincture of opium). She comes across as rather weak. I appreciated learning about laudanum, as I’ve never heard of that before… although The Kitchen House made me read up on it and it seems like it was a real problem for many of that era.
This book provides a whirlwind of emotions. Yes, it contains a lot of difficult issues, but it also inspires hope. The forward motion was fabulous and I found myself thinking about the book a lot throughout the day.
The Kitchen House tale was very engaging and I felt completely invested in the characters. It is, at times, quite depressing and I felt myself sometimes thinking: “Oh no, not again,” when yet another terrible thing befell one of the characters. However, I think Grissom made the story very realistic and I never felt it was over-dramatised. At times reading this story is stressful… like seeing a car-crash ahead and not being able to do anything about it. Of course, this is a successful writing strategy, because the reader wants to keep reading and see what’s going to happen.
I confess that I put off reading The Kitchen House for two reasons. Firstly, the title (of course, after reading it, I realise the relevance of the kitchen house – although I can’t help but think Grissom could have come up with a more enticing name). Secondly, as much as The Underground Railroad (Colson Whitehead) was a fabulous book, it was just a bit too dark and depressing for me. BUT Kathleen Grissom manages to show us the dark world of those times, whilst also giving us glory.
I never wanted to stop reading this story. It is up there with the best historical fiction books I've read. I was fully immersed and engrossed in these characters’ lives and stories from beginning to end. Don’t be like me and put off reading it - my only regret is that I didn’t read it sooner.
If you’d like to read The Kitchen House:
Click here to buy the paperback on Amazon
Click here if you’d like to follow it with the equally fabulous sequel, Glory Over Everything
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