Book Review
Jun. 14th, 2009 03:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kenjariThe Keepers of the House
by Shirley Ann Grau
Set just before the start of the Civil Rights movement, this novel concerns the history of the Howland clan, an old, wealthy Mississippi family, as seen through the eyes of Abigail, its latest scion. Daughter of an absent father and an ailing mother, Abigail was raised on the ancestral family farm and estate by her grandfather William and his black housekeeper Margaret, with Margaret's interracial children as her playmates and companions.When the truth of William and Margaret's relationship surfaces, Abigail must confront and defy an outraged community.
The Keepers of the House deals with the complexities and subtleties of old southern racial relations and racism. Both the book and its protagonist Abigail are very morally complex, and Grau provides a very nuanced and sharp view of the intricacies of relationships and prejudices. There's a lot to parse and a lot to think about here.
by Shirley Ann Grau
Set just before the start of the Civil Rights movement, this novel concerns the history of the Howland clan, an old, wealthy Mississippi family, as seen through the eyes of Abigail, its latest scion. Daughter of an absent father and an ailing mother, Abigail was raised on the ancestral family farm and estate by her grandfather William and his black housekeeper Margaret, with Margaret's interracial children as her playmates and companions.When the truth of William and Margaret's relationship surfaces, Abigail must confront and defy an outraged community.
The Keepers of the House deals with the complexities and subtleties of old southern racial relations and racism. Both the book and its protagonist Abigail are very morally complex, and Grau provides a very nuanced and sharp view of the intricacies of relationships and prejudices. There's a lot to parse and a lot to think about here.
