The Kitchen House: A Novel Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

Kathleen Grissom (Author), Orlagh Cassidy (Narrator), Bahni Turpin (Narrator),

9,145 ratings

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Orphaned during her passage from Ireland, young, white Lavinia arrives on the steps of the kitchen house and is placed, as an indentured servant, under the care of Belle, the master's illegitimate slave daughter. Lavinia learns to cook, clean, and serve food while guided by the quiet strength and love of her new family.

In time Lavinia is accepted into the world of the big house, caring for the master's opium-addicted wife and befriending his dangerous yet protective son. She attempts to straddle the worlds of the kitchen and big house, but her skin color will forever set her apart from Belle and the other slaves.

Through the unique eyes of Lavinia and Belle, Grissom's debut novel unfolds in a heartbreaking and ultimately hopeful story of class, race, dignity, deep-buried secrets, and familial bonds.

Listening Length

12 hours and 57 minutes
Author

Kathleen Grissom
Narrator

Orlagh Cassidy, see all
Audible release date

Sept. 26 2017
Language

English
Publisher

Simon & Schuster Audio
ASIN

B075TJBXB8
Version

Unabridged
Program Type

Audiobook
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Product details

Listening Length	12 hours and 57 minutes
Author	Kathleen Grissom
Narrator	Orlagh Cassidy, Bahni Turpin
Audible.ca Release Date	September 26 2017
Publisher	Simon & Schuster Audio
Program Type	Audiobook
Version	Unabridged
Language	English
ASIN	B075TJBXB8
Best Sellers Rank	#38,465 in Audible Books & Originals (See Top 100 in Audible Books & Originals) #380 in Coming of Age Fiction (Audible Books & Originals) #1,842 in Literary Fiction (Audible Books & Originals) #2,492 in Historical Fiction (Audible Books & Originals)

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5

9,145 global ratings

5 star		68%
4 star		22%
3 star		6%
2 star		2%
1 star		2%

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Top reviews from Canada

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Kathleen Ethier

Good

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on November 7, 2022

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Very good book

Helpful

Janet B

PLANTATION LIFE AS SEEN BY A YOUNG SLAVE!

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on November 27, 2011

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Kathleen Grissom opens the novel with a horrific prologue and then goes back ten years to recount the events leading up to the prologue.

The story begins in 1791 and is told by the two main characters, Lavinia and Belle in alternating chapters.

Two Irish immigrants die on their journey from Ireland to America on the ship that is owned by Captain James Pyke. He is also Captain of the ship. They leave behind two children, a son, Cardigan and a daughter, Lavinia. Because their parents didn't pay their passage, the children are separated. Cardigan is easy to place and is sold and sent to another city to work as a slave, while Lavinia, who is almost seven years old, sick, frail and scared to death is taken by the Captain and is handed over to Belle on the Tall Oaks tobacco plantation in Southern Virginia, which he owns.

Belle is the illegitimate half-white daughter of the Captain and she runs the Kitchen House, which is considered to be a place of privilege on the plantation.

For seven years of her life, Belle is raised by her grandmother, the Captain's mother, in the BIG HOUSE. Her white grandmother accepts Belle as her granddaughter and teaches her everything, just like a white girl. She learns how to read, write and how to behave. Their relationship is one of love for each other. Then one day, her grandmother dies suddenly. Belle is shocked and takes the death badly.

Captain Pyke has never married and one day decides to bring home a young wife named Martha,who is twenty years to his forty years. Belle is then evicted from his home. She moves to the Kitchen House, because he doesn't want his young wife to know. The Captain is absent most of the time and his young wife has to oversee the plantation. He and his wife, Miss Martha have two children, Marshall and Sally. Marshall grows up to be an alcoholic and violent man who causes turmoil wherever he goes.

Some of the people living in the Kitchen House are Mama Mae, the matriarch, Papa George, the Patriarch, their children, Uncle Jacob and Ben. Mama Mae is in charge of the women slaves. She teaches Belle how to cook and now, Belle presides over the Kitchen House and cooks for the Big House. Belle loves Mama Mae and Papa George. She would rather stay at the place she calls home than accept the "Freedom Papers". Belle is now a beautiful eighteen year old woman, to whom the Captain pays private visits and gives her small gifts.

There is also Rankin, an employee, who when the Captain is away sees an opportunity to run the plantation the way he sees fit. He makes life miserable for everyone. He is cruel, a heartless drunk and brings trouble wherever he goes.

Lavinia is nursed back to health and is treated with kindness and concern by Mama Mae, Papa George and Belle. Lavinia, also known as Abinia, becomes close to the slaves while working in the Kitchen House. She can't quite fit in, because she is white. But with time, she grows to love the people and considers them her adopted family.

Eventually, Lavinia is accepted into the BIG HOUSE. The Master is always absent and Miss Martha struggles with opium addiction and requires the help of Lavinia. Lavinia, who has her own problems of where her loyalties lie, is forced to make a big decision that can ultimately change her life.

The book is filled with twists and turns. There are secrets, births, deaths, drug and alcohol abuse, beatings and more.

The book is well-written, fast paced and full of action.

Kathleen Grissom explores the world of Slavery and also the world of White Slavery of which very little is known.

This debut book is a HUGE SUCCESS and I can Highly recommend it.

3 people found this helpful

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Kindle Customer

Could not put it down. The ending although just, fell flat for me.

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on August 3, 2022

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Very very true 2 Slave treatment, even for those thought 2b treated well, this Novel tells all.

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Daniel Kemp Saunders

The Kitchen House, historical fiction

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on March 9, 2022

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A well written piece of historical fiction in a time when slavery was a way of life in the southern states. A very interesting perspective!

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Current themes of race, power and sex run through this novel.

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on September 16, 2020

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This was an interesting novel. Set during slavery, it is told from the point of view from a white young girl who is orphaned and endentured to work on a farm and the half black slave girl who works in the kitchen. A story about power and race with all
The injustice then is truly horrific (and still continues). This book took a while to get into but was a worthwhile read.

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Amazon Customer

love

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on January 25, 2022

Verified Purchase

I absolutely loved this book and wished it had continued so I could follow the lives of all of the characters. Very well written.

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Woodbend

I really enjoyed this book.

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on August 8, 2020

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A riveting saga of life on a plantation, good and bad, told from both sides of the people involved. It features the cruelty of slavery , but the courage and indomitability of those very slaves; the caring and consideration of many who owned them, and the ignorance and brutality of others.
I thought the ending somewhat rushed, compared to the length of time for the story to conclude. Non the less, it was a very good read, and makes me want to read more by this author.

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suzy7

CAN'T PUT IT DOWN....DON'T WANT IT TO END!!!

Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on April 2, 2013

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I love every second of this book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Please buy it. Just do yourself a favor and buy it. Who ever heard of slaves who actually get along with their masters?? And the Kitchen House matriarch Mama Mae is so uplifting, inspiring and positive.......i love her to no end and want to live there with her and just cook soup and raise the children. I honestly do not have a bad thing to say about this book. It is SUPER FAST PACED....you will not be able to put it down, you will care about the characters, you will in fact love them. It is the kind of book that even when you are on page 63 you start calling your sister and your mother and your pastors wife and your friends and screech at them that they have got to buy this book!!!!! You want to be filled with joy and happiness and HOPE????? GEt this book!!! Thanks Miss. Grissom for making my week fly by with it!!!! xoxoxoxoxox

One person found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Kee Lady

A Good Read 3.5*

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on September 27, 2016

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Although I enjoyed reading The Kitchen House, it did not quite have the impact I think the author intended or I expected.

It covers a wide range of sensitive topics including domestic abuse, rape, mental illness, drug dependency and of course racism as evidenced in the slave trade. These issues provoke fierce debate and evoke even greater emotions. Unfortunately I did not feel the emotion I believe the author intended to evoke in her reader. Rather than tackling these issues directly, Grissom skirts around them, maintaining a distance. The heinous acts committed by various characters are only ever implied. Although I do not expect explicit descriptions, I feel that had the author been more descriptive, the emotional impact would have been much greater.

For me author's writing lacked sophistication and as a result I did not connect with the characters or the story as I would have liked to. I do not mean this in a derogatory way but this book very much had the feel of a young adult book and I do think this would be very popular with the young adult audience.

However I would not discourage others from reading it! It is an interesting premise and shines a light once again on the horrors of the slave trade.

11 people found this helpful

Laura Besley

A real page-turner!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on April 15, 2015

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Set between the years of 1791 and 1810 The Kitchen House tells the story of Lavinia, a young white orphan who is intentured to a wealthy landowner in Virginia. It's the story of 'what ifs'. What if her parents hadn't died on the passage from Ireland to America. What if she and her brother Cardigan hadn't been separated. What if she'd known the truth... This novel weaves layers and layers of secrets, some which Lavinia is too young to understand and and some which she makes up her own truth for. This, ultimately, is her downfall.

Lavinia is but one of a large cast of characters in this novel. She is naive, but likable, however not my favourite. Out of all of them Mama Mae is my favourite character. 'I work for Mrs. Pyke like I don't know what tired mean. Nothing' that I won't do. "Yes, Mrs. Pyke, you right, Mrs. Pyke," that all I say. You girls watch me close. I act like I don't have no mind of my own, except how to make every body in the big house happy. That because I mean to stay up there, and I tryin' hard to keep you girls with me.'

I found this to be a real page-turner; I really couldn't wait to see how the story would unfold. It was exciting up until the very end.

2 people found this helpful

AER

One to read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on July 4, 2017

Verified Purchase

Having read a few books similar to this, and having a strong passion for American history, especially the brutal times of slavery, not since The Colour Purple has a novel left me as touched as this book. Through tears, laughter and heartbreak following their stories has been a hard task, at times a moment will leave you wanting to throw the book across the room in anger and others will have you clinging to it in hope. This is the type of story that will stay with you and though times are still tough for some, thankful that we do not live in a world where slavery is allowed and women are impotent.

2 people found this helpful

Kym Hamer

Absorbing and provocative

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 10, 2017

Verified Purchase

This has been on my Kindle for quite some time and I'm pleased to report it was worth the wait. The novel centres on the stories of Lavinia, a 7-year-old Irish orphan, and Belle, the woman who cares for her when she arrives on the tobacco plantation where Belle makes her home. Despite the story's context of slavery in the early 1800s, it appears that the segregation of whites and blacks was not a simple matter and it is this which makes this novel both absorbing and provocative. The author's note at the end provided an interesting insight into Grissom's inspiration for writing The Kitchen House - reading this is worth the couple of extra minutes.

One person found this helpful

Sue M.

Amazing. Didn't want to get to the last page!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on September 20, 2021

Verified Purchase

This was so completely different from my usual reading matter, but I was hooked from the first page. The story and characters had me reading into the early hours. Just one more chapter......! Didn't want the story to end. It would make great movie material. Highly recommended.

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The Kitchen House: A Novel Audible Audiobook – Unabridged

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