THE KITCHEN HOUSE

THE KITCHEN HOUSE by KATHLEEN GRISSOM

It is a tragic story of a white little girl, who works as a servant in plantation owners' house. She makes some mistake which reveals the best and worse in a society she tries to survive. 7-year-old Lavinia comes on the tobacco plantation in North America from Ireland on board a ship.

On the plantation, the girl is trying to work with all the slaves in the kitchen house. She lives there too. Soon the Irish girl becomes closely bonded to some black people - her new adopted family. Because of the white skin, she is set apart from her new parent, especially in the first days after her arrival.

But in the end, Irish girl is accepted by everyone. One day she sees a dilemma - she must choose between 2 worlds. Her decision is very important. Lavinia must measure her loyalties, unraveled the bitter truth and make a choice, which can determine all her future.

The author of The Kitchen House, Kathleen Grissom was famous by her previous novel Glory Over Everything. Today The Kitchen House - is the well-known book and almost a classic. Moreover, some critics say that this novel is Gone with the Wind turned upside down.

There are a lot of characters in The Kitchen House, but choosing names for them was not very difficult task. As Kathleen Grissom said in one of her interviews, all the names were taken from big pale of slaves mentions which she finds during her research before writing the book.