Seven-year-old Lavinia arrives at Tall Oaks in 1791 as an indentured servant to Captain James Pyke. Ill and recently orphaned, the Irish girl is given to the care of Belle, Captain Pyke's illegitimate mulatto daughter. Living in the kitchen house among the slaves, whom she considers her family, Lavinia witnesses the heart-rending despair of parents and children, husbands and wives, as slaves are sold and bought, beaten and abused. Miss Martha, Captain Pyke's mentally fragile wife, is addicted to laudanum and unable to cope with the sudden deaths of 4-year-old daughter Sally or the obvious abuse of son Marshall at the hands of his cruel tutor.
The novel begins in 1810, where we see the adult Lydia running with her daughter Ellie, returning to Tall Oaks in an attempt to save her beloved friends from the cruelty of Marshall and the plantation's nasty overseer. Then we travel back in time to where the story began, with Lavinia's arrival at the plantation. Grissom's meticulous research and wonderful ability to tell a story bring Lydia's narrative to life. Belle's story is told in some sections of the book, but her character holds back a bit and the reader is never quite able to fully feel her point of view, perhaps due to the natural reticence of the character. Overall, I would recommend this novel wholeheartedly. It offers an interesting historical perspective of slavery, murder, rape, birth and death, great cruelty and great love, something for everyone wrapped in an incredible historical package.
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