The Resource The kitchen house, Kathleen Grissom
The kitchen house, Kathleen Grissom
Resource Information
The item The kitchen house, Kathleen Grissom represents a specific, individual, material embodiment of a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in Williamsburg Regional Library.This item is available to borrow from 1 library branch. This resource has been enriched with EBSCO NoveList data.
Resource Information
The item The kitchen house, Kathleen Grissom represents a specific, individual, material embodiment of a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in Williamsburg Regional Library.
This item is available to borrow from 1 library branch.
This resource has been enriched with EBSCO NoveList data.
- Summary
- "Oprhaned aboard a ship from Ireland, seven-year-old Lavinia arrives on the steps of a tobacco plantation where she is to live and worth 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 the by her white skin. Eventually accepted into the world of the big house, where the master is absent and the mistress battles opium addiction, Lavinia straddles two very different world. Then she is forced to make a choice"--P. [4] of cover
- Language
- eng
- Edition
- First Touchstone trade paperback edition.
- Extent
- 368 pages
- Note
- Includes a reading group guide and a conversation with the author
- Isbn
- 9781439153666
- Label
- The kitchen house
- Title
- The kitchen house
- Statement of responsibility
- Kathleen Grissom
- Subject
-
- trueSlaves
- trueRace relations
- Plantation life -- Southern States -- Fiction
- truePlantation life -- Southern States
- true1790s -- 1790 -- 1799
- true18th century -- 1701 -- 1800
- trueEarly America (1784-1819) -- 1784 -- 1819
- Historical fiction
- trueHistorical fiction
- trueIndentured servants
- Indentured servants -- Fiction
- Large type books
- trueMultiracial persons
- trueMultiple perspectives
- trueUnited States -- History -- 18th century
- trueSouthern States -- Race relations
- Slaves -- Fiction
- Language
- eng
- Summary
- "Oprhaned aboard a ship from Ireland, seven-year-old Lavinia arrives on the steps of a tobacco plantation where she is to live and worth 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 the by her white skin. Eventually accepted into the world of the big house, where the master is absent and the mistress battles opium addiction, Lavinia straddles two very different world. Then she is forced to make a choice"--P. [4] of cover
- Review
-
- Grissom’s unsentimental debut twists the conventions of the antebellum novel just enough to give readers an involving new perspective on what would otherwise be fairly stock material. Lavinia, an orphaned seven-year-old white indentured servant, arrives in 1791 to work in the kitchen house at Tall Oaks, a Tidewater, Va., tobacco plantation owned by Capt. James Pyke. Belle, the captain’s illegitimate half-white daughter who runs the kitchen house, shares narration duties, and the two distinctly different voices chronicle a troublesome 20 years: Lavinia becomes close to the slaves working the kitchen house, but she can’t fully fit in because of her race. At 17, she marries Marshall, the captain’s brutish son turned inept plantation master, and as Lavinia ingratiates herself into the family and the big house, racial tensions boil over into lynching, rape, arson, and murder. 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. (Feb.) --Staff (Reviewed November 9, 2009) (Publishers Weekly, vol 256, issue 45, p29)
- Irish orphan finds a new family among slaves in Grissom's pulse-quickening debut.Lavinia is only six in 1791, when her parents die aboard ship and the captain, James Pyke, brings her to work as an indentured servant at Tall Oaks, his Virginia plantation. Pyke's illegitimate daughter Belle, chief cook (and alternate narrator with Lavinia), takes reluctant charge of the little white girl. Belle and the other house slaves, including Mama Mae and Papa George, their son Ben, grizzled Uncle Jacob and youngsters Beattie and Fanny, soon embrace Lavinia as their own. Otherwise, life at Tall Oaks is grim. Pyke's wife Martha sinks deeper into laudanum addiction during the captain's long absences. Brutal, drunken overseer Rankin starves and beats the field slaves. The Pykes' 11-year-old son Marshall "accidentally" causes his young sister Sally's death, and Ben is horribly mutilated by Rankin. When Martha, distraught over Sally, ignores her infant son Campbell, Lavinia bonds with the baby, as well as with Sukey, daughter of Campbell's black wet nurse Dory. Captain Pyke's trip to Philadelphia to find a husband for Belle proves disastrous; Dory and Campbell die of yellow fever, and Pyke contracts a chronic infection that will eventually kill him. Marshall is sent to boarding school, but returns from time to time to wreak havoc, which includes raping Belle, whom he doesn't know is his half-sister. After the captain dies, through a convoluted convergence of events, Lavinia marries Marshall and at 17 becomes the mistress of Tall Oaks. At first her savior, Marshall is soon Lavinia's jailer. Kindly neighboring farmer Will rescues several Tall Oaks slaves, among them Ben and Belle, who, unbeknownst to all, was emancipated by the captain years ago. As Rankin and Marshall outdo each other in infamy, the stage is set for a breathless but excruciatingly attenuated denouement.Melodramatic for sure, but the author manages to avoid stereotypes while maintaining a brisk pace. (Kirkus Reviews, December 15, 2009)
- http://library.link/vocab/ext/novelist/bookUI
- 338816
- Cataloging source
- BTCTA
- http://library.link/vocab/creatorName
- Grissom, Kathleen
- Dewey number
- 813.6
- Index
- no index present
- Literary form
- fiction
- http://library.link/vocab/resourcePreferred
- True
- Series statement
- Kitchen house
- Series volume
- 0001
- http://library.link/vocab/subjectName
-
- Indentured servants
- Slaves
- Plantation life
- Target audience
- adult
- Label
- The kitchen house, Kathleen Grissom
- Note
- Includes a reading group guide and a conversation with the author
- Carrier category
- volume
- Carrier category code
-
- nc
- Carrier MARC source
- rdacarrier
- Content category
- text
- Content type code
-
- txt
- Content type MARC source
- rdacontent
- Dimensions
- 21 cm
- Edition
- First Touchstone trade paperback edition.
- Extent
- 368 pages
- Isbn
- 9781439153666
- Isbn Type
- (trade pbk. : alk. paper)
- Lccn
- 2009017509
- Media category
- unmediated
- Media MARC source
- rdamedia
- Media type code
-
- n
- System control number
-
- 319955280
- (OCoLC)319955280
- Label
- The kitchen house, Kathleen Grissom
- Note
- Includes a reading group guide and a conversation with the author
- Carrier category
- volume
- Carrier category code
-
- nc
- Carrier MARC source
- rdacarrier
- Content category
- text
- Content type code
-
- txt
- Content type MARC source
- rdacontent
- Dimensions
- 21 cm
- Edition
- First Touchstone trade paperback edition.
- Extent
- 368 pages
- Isbn
- 9781439153666
- Isbn Type
- (trade pbk. : alk. paper)
- Lccn
- 2009017509
- Media category
- unmediated
- Media MARC source
- rdamedia
- Media type code
-
- n
- System control number
-
- 319955280
- (OCoLC)319955280
Subject
- trueSlaves
- trueRace relations
- Plantation life -- Southern States -- Fiction
- truePlantation life -- Southern States
- true1790s -- 1790 -- 1799
- true18th century -- 1701 -- 1800
- trueEarly America (1784-1819) -- 1784 -- 1819
- Historical fiction
- trueHistorical fiction
- trueIndentured servants
- Indentured servants -- Fiction
- Large type books
- trueMultiracial persons
- trueMultiple perspectives
- trueUnited States -- History -- 18th century
- trueSouthern States -- Race relations
- Slaves -- Fiction
Genre
Member of
Tone Tone is the feeling that a book evokes in the reader. In many cases, this category best answers the question, "What are you in the mood for?"
Writing style Writing style terms tell us how a book is written, from the complexity of the language to the level of the detail in the background.
Character Only applied to fiction books, character appeal is especially for those readers who love books *because* of the characters.
- Review
-
- Grissom’s unsentimental debut twists the conventions of the antebellum novel just enough to give readers an involving new perspective on what would otherwise be fairly stock material. Lavinia, an orphaned seven-year-old white indentured servant, arrives in 1791 to work in the kitchen house at Tall Oaks, a Tidewater, Va., tobacco plantation owned by Capt. James Pyke. Belle, the captain’s illegitimate half-white daughter who runs the kitchen house, shares narration duties, and the two distinctly different voices chronicle a troublesome 20 years: Lavinia becomes close to the slaves working the kitchen house, but she can’t fully fit in because of her race. At 17, she marries Marshall, the captain’s brutish son turned inept plantation master, and as Lavinia ingratiates herself into the family and the big house, racial tensions boil over into lynching, rape, arson, and murder. 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. (Feb.) --Staff (Reviewed November 9, 2009) (Publishers Weekly, vol 256, issue 45, p29)
- Irish orphan finds a new family among slaves in Grissom's pulse-quickening debut.Lavinia is only six in 1791, when her parents die aboard ship and the captain, James Pyke, brings her to work as an indentured servant at Tall Oaks, his Virginia plantation. Pyke's illegitimate daughter Belle, chief cook (and alternate narrator with Lavinia), takes reluctant charge of the little white girl. Belle and the other house slaves, including Mama Mae and Papa George, their son Ben, grizzled Uncle Jacob and youngsters Beattie and Fanny, soon embrace Lavinia as their own. Otherwise, life at Tall Oaks is grim. Pyke's wife Martha sinks deeper into laudanum addiction during the captain's long absences. Brutal, drunken overseer Rankin starves and beats the field slaves. The Pykes' 11-year-old son Marshall "accidentally" causes his young sister Sally's death, and Ben is horribly mutilated by Rankin. When Martha, distraught over Sally, ignores her infant son Campbell, Lavinia bonds with the baby, as well as with Sukey, daughter of Campbell's black wet nurse Dory. Captain Pyke's trip to Philadelphia to find a husband for Belle proves disastrous; Dory and Campbell die of yellow fever, and Pyke contracts a chronic infection that will eventually kill him. Marshall is sent to boarding school, but returns from time to time to wreak havoc, which includes raping Belle, whom he doesn't know is his half-sister. After the captain dies, through a convoluted convergence of events, Lavinia marries Marshall and at 17 becomes the mistress of Tall Oaks. At first her savior, Marshall is soon Lavinia's jailer. Kindly neighboring farmer Will rescues several Tall Oaks slaves, among them Ben and Belle, who, unbeknownst to all, was emancipated by the captain years ago. As Rankin and Marshall outdo each other in infamy, the stage is set for a breathless but excruciatingly attenuated denouement.Melodramatic for sure, but the author manages to avoid stereotypes while maintaining a brisk pace. (Kirkus Reviews, December 15, 2009)
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<div class="citation" vocab="http://schema.org/"><i class="fa fa-external-link-square fa-fw"></i> Data from <span resource="http://link.wrl.org/portal/The-kitchen-house-Kathleen-Grissom/SVhFH0jiv7M/" typeof="Book http://bibfra.me/vocab/lite/Item"><span property="name http://bibfra.me/vocab/lite/label"><a href="http://link.wrl.org/portal/The-kitchen-house-Kathleen-Grissom/SVhFH0jiv7M/">The kitchen house, Kathleen Grissom</a></span> - <span property="potentialAction" typeOf="OrganizeAction"><span property="agent" typeof="LibrarySystem http://library.link/vocab/LibrarySystem" resource="http://link.wrl.org/"><span property="name http://bibfra.me/vocab/lite/label"><a property="url" href="http://link.wrl.org/">Williamsburg Regional Library</a></span></span></span></span></div>
