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Content snapshot
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Violence
A lot
The violence of slavery depicted throughout; sexual assault of enslaved women; a violent climax
Language
Some
Period-appropriate language including racial language in historical context
Sexual Content
Some
Sexual exploitation of enslaved women is part of the plantation's reality; not graphic but present
Substance Use
Some
Alcohol use and addiction among the white family
Emotional Intensity
Very heavy
The sustained psychological weight of witnessing slavery's daily horrors; the damage to Lavinia's identity; the devastating emotional finale
What this book is about
Lavinia, a white Irish orphan indentured to a Virginia tobacco plantation, grows up in the kitchen house among the enslaved workers who become her family. Kathleen Grissom's novel alternates between Lavinia's perspective and that of Belle, an enslaved woman, as the plantation's dark dynamics build toward a devastating conclusion.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
Violence and sexual exploitation of slavery depicted throughout
Devastating emotional ending
Racial language in historical context
Reader Verification
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