The Kitchen House: A Novel

Kathleen Grissom

Touchstone, Feb 2, 2010 - Fiction - 384 pages

"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." --Book --

What people are saying

Review: The Kitchen House

User Review  - Trish Nelson - Goodreads

The Kitchen House drew me in from the very first page with its stark, heart-wrenching opening scene and its rich and vivid prose throughout. Several others have posted very good synopses of the ...

Review: The Kitchen House

User Review  - Natalie - Goodreads

This book is really, really, really sad. Every time I would sit down to read it, 13 tragedies would occur in the book and I would put it down completely traumatized and depressed almost to the point ...

About the author

Born and raised in Saskatchewan, Kathleen Grissom is now happily rooted in south-side Virginia, where she and her husband live in the plantation tavern they renovated. The Kitchen House is her first novel. You can visit her website at www.kathleengrissom.com.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Kitchen House: A Novel
• Author: Kathleen Grissom
• Publisher: Touchstone, 2010
• ISBN: 1439153663, 9781439153666
• Length: 384 pages
• Subjects: Fiction / Coming of Age; Fiction / Historical; Fiction / Literary; Fiction / Sagas