I have two book recommendations for you…. both by “Kathleens” and both first time novelists. Great books!
#1 - The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom (Audio)
Title: The Kitchen House
Publisher: Touchstone
Web: www.kathleengrissom.com
Date of Publication: February, 2010
ISBN-10: 1439153663
Readers: Orlagh Cassidy, Bahni Turpin
Length: 12 hours, 55 minutes
Source: Hmmm…. I think a friend said it had been recommended to her… I think.
Rating: 5 of 5 STARS
Publisher: Touchstone
Web: www.kathleengrissom.com
Date of Publication: February, 2010
ISBN-10: 1439153663
Readers: Orlagh Cassidy, Bahni Turpin
Length: 12 hours, 55 minutes
Source: Hmmm…. I think a friend said it had been recommended to her… I think.
Rating: 5 of 5 STARS
Synopsis from Goodreads.com: When a white servant girl violates the order of plantation society, she unleashes a tragedy that exposes the worst and best in the people she has come to call her family.
From B: This was a very captivating “listen.” I imagine the paper version is awesome, too. As always, I am so amazed at the ability of readers to sweep you up into a story. Kitchen House is set on a plantation in the 1780’s and is told in the alternating voices of Ladvinia and Belle. Ladvinia is a slave but also the daughter of the plantation owner. Belle is a young girl who comes to the plantation at the age of 7 as an indentured servant. Bottom line – it’s a story about how bad humans can treat each other. It’s about how good we can be to each other, too. I was sad to see this book end…. an indicator that the characters were strong, the story smooth, and the writing beautiful. I’m sure if I had been reading the paper version there would have been lots of dog-eared pages marking well crafted passages to go back and study. Highly recommend!
#2 – The Heretic’s Daughter by Kathleen Kent
Web: www.kathleenkent.com
Date of Publication: October 12, 2009
ISBN-10: 031602449X
Source: See below “From B”
Rating: 5 of 5 STARS
Synopsis from Goodreads.com: Martha Carrier was one of the first women to be accused, tried and hanged as a witch in Salem, Massachusetts. Like her mother, young Sarah Carrier is bright and willful, openly challenging the small, brutal world in which they live. Often at odds with one another, mother and daughter are forced to stand together against the escalating hysteria of the trials and the superstitious tyranny that led to the torture and imprisonment of more than 200 people accused of witchcraft. This is the story of Martha's courageous defiance and ultimate death, as told by the daughter who survived.
From B: A few months back I watched this adaptation of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. I’m pretty sure I had never read the play. I watched it because of cast – Winona Ryder and Daniel Day-Lewis…. two of my favorites. The movie was great and got me interesting in knowing a little more about the Salem Witch Trials. That led me to looking for novels set in that time period… which led me to The Heretic’s Daughter. I found it a few weeks later in one of our local used bookstores. If you are at all interested in this time period, or in the trials, or in mother-daughter relationships, this is an awesome read. Kent is tenth generation descendant of Martha Carrier and the book shows her personal attachment to the story. She has crafted a wonderful first novel. Highly recommend!
From B: A few months back I watched this adaptation of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. I’m pretty sure I had never read the play. I watched it because of cast – Winona Ryder and Daniel Day-Lewis…. two of my favorites. The movie was great and got me interesting in knowing a little more about the Salem Witch Trials. That led me to looking for novels set in that time period… which led me to The Heretic’s Daughter. I found it a few weeks later in one of our local used bookstores. If you are at all interested in this time period, or in the trials, or in mother-daughter relationships, this is an awesome read. Kent is tenth generation descendant of Martha Carrier and the book shows her personal attachment to the story. She has crafted a wonderful first novel. Highly recommend!
Good Words:
“And what finally of the tortures of a guilty soul? What concoction is there that can be chewed and swallowed and downed in the belly to force the poison of self-recrimination back through the pores in the skin? In what organ of the body does it reside? A seeping wound can be bound. Salve can be dabbed to a burn or a swelling bubo. Poison can be drawn with a leech, or a lance. But guilt is a ghost that takes the shape of the body it inhabits and consumes all that is tender within its shell: brain, bowels, and heart. I cannot pluck it out like a splinter of glass or treat it with herbal brews.”
“And what finally of the tortures of a guilty soul? What concoction is there that can be chewed and swallowed and downed in the belly to force the poison of self-recrimination back through the pores in the skin? In what organ of the body does it reside? A seeping wound can be bound. Salve can be dabbed to a burn or a swelling bubo. Poison can be drawn with a leech, or a lance. But guilt is a ghost that takes the shape of the body it inhabits and consumes all that is tender within its shell: brain, bowels, and heart. I cannot pluck it out like a splinter of glass or treat it with herbal brews.”
“It was as if time for us within the cells had shortened against the time that lay outside the cold and seeping walls of the prison. And like a smaller cog within a larger one, we were outpacing the outer world in our rush towards our endless sleep.”
You can find more of my reviews at these links:
You can find more of my reviews at these links:
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment