The Old South

My Rating: 5/5

Review: I was immediately caught up in the story of Livinia and Belle, the slave woman who was put in charge of her. Plantation life came alive for me as I consumed each word. There was tragedy and hardship, but there was also love and togetherness that only a close knit family could share. Livinia was seven when she arrived at the tobacco plantation in Virginia. She was a freckled-faced Irish girl, with red hair and no memory of who she was or where she came from. It takes a shocking moment for her to have a sudden flash of memory. Her story goes on from there up until she's a grown woman. I liked that the point-of-view went back and forth between Livinia and Belle. There were so many characters to cherish or loathe as the case may be. I only wish that there could have been an epilogue at the end just to give me a little more closure, but I made up my own in my mind, so I'm quite satisfied.

Book Description: Orphaned while on board 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.