Glory over Everything

If you enjoyed The Kitchen House you will love this book. Through the introduction of new characters and clever weaving of story lines, it takes you beyond the kitchen house to see what happened to some of the beloved characters. Some events will break your heart while new characters will truly touch and stay with you for some time to come. The reader will gain a deeper understanding of this time period and the brave souls that led the way. Don't miss it!

Wonderful characters in this story. I am sure there were many more stories of people with great hearts saving people so they would no longer be slaves! My mother-in-law could not put the book down after I gave it to her. Our book club is reviewing it next month and I can hardly wait to discuss all the questions.

An excellent sequel to an excellent book The Kitchen House. This is one of the best books I have read in awhile. Captivating story telling and the pace is suspenseful and fast so I went through the book pretty quickly because I could not find myself putting it down. I would definitely recommend reading the first book before this one to fully understand characters

This book left me satisfied yet wanting more if that's possible. Not only did I bond with the characters I felt like they were family. I normally only read books by AA authors & I don't recall who recommended " Kitchen House" but I couldn't wait to read Glory and Mrs. Grissom did not disappoint.

The continuation of the Kitchen House, the story moved fluidly through the life of Jamie and his encounters with slavery and his mixed parentage. The characters are warm, loyal and courageous, and it was effortless to care and love their story.

Great character development. I really fell in love with all the characters. Although I read the first book, it was a while ago and I don't remember it. You don't need to read the first one to love this one. The first one is just as good. I highly recommend both.

I loved this book. I borrowed the first book, Kitchen House, from my sister (She read it in her book club) and fell in love with it. Soon after I was looking to read more and saw that this was coming out in the near future. Hard to wait, but worth it.

The Kitchen House was the first in the series. Although, you don't have to read it first, it does help to have the history and context. This book was well written. The characters were intriguing. Some characters I despised and some characters I loved. I like seeing the transformation of James.

Excellent read. I also enjoyed The Kitchen House and this was a wonderful continuation of the story but a great story on its own also. Highly recommend both books and hope the author continues the story with a third book.

No disappointing sequel here! Kathleen Grissom excelled bring her characters to life in "The Kitchen House" and continued to do so with their offspring and elders. I was sad to finish both books and felt like I was losing some close friends. Kathleen is considering writing a novel on a different topic and I hope the new characters talk to her as closely as those in her first two novels. She did them justice.

It is not necessary to have read The Kitchen House in order to enjoy Glory Over Everything, but it makes for a richer experience. Glory Over Everything is a story of slavery told predominately in 1830, about 30 years before the Civil War. The book tells the escape of Jamie Pyke from his southern Virginia home. Jamie is the product a mulatto mother raped by the white master. After a series of tragedies in The Kitchen House book, 13 year old Jamie escapes and ends up in Philadelphia. Though he is "yellow" and easily passes for white, he lives in fear of being discovered and sold as a slave. Jamie is a talented artist and through a series of fortunate events becomes a wealthy man, who goes by the name of James Burton. Two pivotal things happen to force him to leave Philadelphia, one being the kidnapping and enslavement of Pan, a young Negro boy in his employ. The rest of the novel details Mr. Burton's efforts to rescue Pan and the people who help and hinder him along the way. To give more detail would spoil the book.

The story is told by four narrators: Mr. Burton/Jamie, Pan, Sukey (from The Kitchen House), and a white woman named Caroline. It is fast paced (my heart was pounding at times) and hard to put down. It seems well researched and the writing quality is good. I found that I enjoyed the characters more from The Kitchen House and I wish they had more of a role here. However, Mr. Burton is a man with complex problems and is not intended to always be likable. I really appreciated the portrayal of the subtleties of race and the various relationships between whites and Negros. Some see Mr. Burton as white while others see him as 100% Negro. As the story moves along, he struggles with his own identity and the kind of man he wants to be.

I am typically down on a tied in a bow happy ending. However, I would say this is more in line with a hopeful ending and a dash of redemption. Some awful things happened to get these people to happy. I also think that though this book has a defined ending, the author leaves plenty of room for another sequel. If so, I will read it!

For those readers who enjoyed the kitchen house this sequel is amazing. I could not put it down. I only hope that the author is already working on the third book in the series. She is an amazing storyteller

Just as good as the "Kitchen House", I cannot put it down, Kathleen's writing is brilliant, such a wonderful story teller!! I can't wait to get home to curl up to it again! Each sceen I can feel, smell, and be there it is so well written, Bravo! Another great book!

Loved the continuation of “The Kitchen House.” It was a bit slow at the start, but once the storyline got started, it was hard to put it down. I would recommend reading this immediately after finishing “The Kitchen House” as there are several characters who are in both books.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Kitchen House and was excited to see this next one. Glory over Everything started off quite good and then just kept getting better. Hated to finish it. No spoilers here, but I was left with the impression that there could be more? Perhaps it is wishful thinking . I sure hope so. Excellent read.

Interesting novel. I like the author's way of describing the states of mind of each character in the story... The different point of views and the way they see life and the different reactions of each sitiuation ... And I cried in the baby delivery seen.Really enjoyed it

The theme of understanding our identity and facing our fears is woven through this well crafted book. The characters stayed true to themselves and didn't change to fit the story. It truly felt as if this story was real and the characters actually would have done these things. I appreciated the flaws of the protagonist and the compelling and abiding love of his servant.

This was long awaited and we'll worth that wait. Grissom paints a picture that you can not only see, but feel, hear and smell. The characters jump off the page and into life immediately. Full of love, suspense, fear, happiness and human kindness for all humanity, Glory Over Everything is a beautiful read.