The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom is a book club recommendation. This book will appeal to those who love historical fiction, family relationships, and tense drama. It can be a page turner. The setting is the South around 1800. Lavinia's family was on route to America from Ireland. Her parents die and Lavinia and her brother are indentured to different people to pay for the family's passage. She lives with the ship's captain's family on a typical southern plantation.
Eventually, she fits in place, although not part of the owner's family. She is more part of the slave's family. She works in the kitchen and grows close to her enslaved family and they love her back.
The reader will see how the slaves were treated and the conditions they tried to overcome. The owner's family also had troubles. The father was too often away. The mother was ill. The daughter accidently dies. The son is mistreated by his tutor.
When the plantation owner dies, the mother is put in an insane asylum and Lavinia is sent to live with the mother's relatives. Here she thrives until she is married to Marshal, the son of the plantation owner.
Life is ironic, here. Lavinia returns as the mistress of the plantation. Her marriage, however, is not happy, to say the least. Marshal is abusive and a drunk. Lavinia identifies more with her enslaved family than with Marshal.
Upheaval comes. Tragedy strikes. Lavinia is fine but things will never be the same.
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