Off The Book Shelf

I've recently finished two more audio books.  One is historical fiction (which is a genre I love) and the other is a memoir. 

The first is The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom.
This book was given to me with very high praises.  It was even compared to The Help.  Unfortunately, I don't have high praises to sing.  Don't get me wrong...this isn't a horrible book.  In fact, the story is very good.  But when something is compared to The Help, I expected humor and warm fuzzy moments.  There was none of that in this story.  It is literally one tragic event after another.  I thought the story was riveting and touching, but it is not light hearted and you need to be ready for the amount of heaviness that is going to heaped upon you.

Lavinia, a seven-year-old Irish orphan with no memory of her past, arrives on a tobacco plantation where she is put to work as an indentured servant. Placed with the slaves in the kitchen house under the care of Belle, the master’s illegitimate daughter, Lavinia becomes deeply bonded to her new adopted family, even though she is forever set apart from them by her white skin. As Lavinia is slowly accepted into the world of the big house, where the master is absent and the mistress battles an opium addiction, she finds herself perilously straddling two very different worlds. When Lavinia marries the master’s troubled son and takes on the role of mistress, loyalties are brought into question, dangerous truths are laid bare and lives are put at risk.

The second book Between Two Worlds by Roxana Saberi. 

Wonderful!  Wonderful!  Wonderful!  This is Roxana's memoir for the period of time when she was detained in Iran and accused of being a spy.  I am very glad I listened to this book instead of reading it.  Roxana actually reads it, so it makes even that much more personal.  There is a part where she sings the Star Spangled Banner...I was literally brought to tears.  I highly recommend you give this one your time.

In early 2009, Roxana Saberi, an American journalist born to Iranian and Japanese parents, was forced from her home in Tehran, secretly detained, and falsely accused of espionage—then sentenced to eight years in prison. Between Two Worlds is the gripping and inspirational true story of her harrowing imprisonment and the faith that got her through it, until an international outcry helped secure her release.

Along the way, Saberi gained strength from other prisoners—brave women jailed for their pursuit of human rights such as the freedom of speech and religion. This memoir of her struggle to be true to herself regardless of the consequences also offers penetrating insights into Iranian society, the Islamic regime, U.S.-Iran relations, and the historic changes sweeping Iran today.