Glory Over Everything: Beyond the Kitchen House

~ I received no compensation and opinions are 100% my own or my family. ~

Synopsis (from Amazon): From the author of the New York Times bestseller and beloved book club favorite The Kitchen House, a novel of family and long-buried secrets along the treacherous Underground Railroad.

Jamie Pyke, son of both a slave and master of Tall Oakes, has a deadly secret that compels him to take a treacherous journey through the Underground Railroad.

Published in 2010, The Kitchen House became a grassroots bestseller. Fans connected so deeply to the book’s characters that the author, Kathleen Grissom, found herself being asked over and over “what happens next?” The wait is finally over.

This new, stand-alone novel opens in 1830, and Jamie, who fled from the Virginian plantation he once called home, is passing in Philadelphia society as a wealthy white silversmith. After many years of striving, Jamie has achieved acclaim and security, only to discover that his aristocratic lover Caroline is pregnant. Before he can reveal his real identity to her, he learns that his beloved servant Pan has been captured and sold into slavery in the South. Pan’s father, to whom Jamie owes a great debt, pleads for Jamie’s help, and Jamie agrees, knowing the journey will take him perilously close to Tall Oakes and the ruthless slave hunter who is still searching for him. Meanwhile, Caroline’s father learns and exposes Jamie’s secret, and Jamie loses his home, his business, and finally Caroline.

Heartbroken and with nothing to lose, Jamie embarks on a trip to a North Carolina plantation where Pan is being held with a former Tall Oakes slave named Sukey, who is intent on getting Pan to the Underground Railroad. Soon the three of them are running through the Great Dismal Swamp, the notoriously deadly hiding place for escaped slaves. Though they have help from those in the Underground Railroad, not all of them will make it out alive.

One (or more) Sentence Summary: The long awaited second book by Kathleen Grissom was another home run.  Wow.....I actually finished this book about a month ago, and have postponed writing the a review.  Just like The Kitchen House, I can't let go of Glory Over Everything. It haunts me (in an good way).  The story picks up with Jamie, but brings back characters and pieces of The Kitchen House.  Maybe you can tell....I am just rambling.  

Glory Over Everything is an excellent story focused around Jamie, Belle's son and Master Marshall.  You fell everything Jamie has gone/is going through while you are reading the book.  The characters and book pull you in, just like you are there.  I am still in shock at all Pan went through when he was kidnapped.  Jamie did the right thing by going after him, even though he feared for his own life by going south.  

Even though Glory Over Everything is a sequel to The Kitchen House, you can read it as a stand-alone.  The real question I have....is why would you?  They are both so excellent.

Favorite Character(s):  Pan is my favorite character.  Oh, if I could just wrap my arms around him and take care oh him, I would. 

Fast read/slow read:  I actually read and listened to this book via Audible.  I love how the characters come even more to life for me by listening to the book.

Would I Read Other Books by the Author: Without a doubt I would read anything Kathleen writes.  I had the pleasure after to The Kitchen House to email with Kathleen and she was always giving me updates on her book progress.  I am in awe of her talent.  She takes me back to the early 1800's like I was there.

Born and raised in Saskatchewan, Kathleen Grissom is now happily rooted in south-side Virginia, where she and her husband live in the plantation tavern they renovated. In addition to The Kitchen House, she is also the author of Glory Over Everything.

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