Keeper of the House

by Godwin, Rebecca T.

• ISBN13: 9780312135294
• ISBN10: 0312135297
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1995-08-15
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

Summary

Keeper of the House is an unforgettable novel narrated by the lively Minyon Manigault, a young black woman from a coastal South Carolina Gullah community.In 1929, due to mysterious family circumstances, Minyon is given up by her grandmother to the employment of Ariadne Fleming, a white madam in the famously elegant brothel called Hazelhedge.At the age of fourteen, she becomes a pair of eyes and hands, watching and working almost invisibly in a world where men and women leave their inhibition, and their pasts, at the door.As Minyon grows up in the household with other black people who provide behind-the-scenes support of Hazelhedge, she cannot escape her haunting childhood memories.Even while bearing witness to the events unfolding around her, Minyon seeks to find her place in the world, and her pace within herself.

Author Biography

Rebecca T. Godwin is the author of Private Parts. She received National Endowment for the Arts grand for a portion of this novel: an excerpt also appeared in The Paris Review. A South Carolina native, she works in communications at Bennington College, and now lives in Poestenskill, New York.

Table of Contents

"Quite simply one of the most beautiful novels I have ever read." --Susan Dodd, Author of Mamaw and Old Wive's Tales

"Minyon's voice is beautiful music, a cello, a harp, a gospel moan." --Reginald McKnight, author of I Get On the Bus

"Beautifully rendered and flawlessly maintained Gullah speech that occasionally whispers of the easy lyricism of Zora Neale Hurston." --Orlando Sentinel

"A beautifully mesmerizing tale that will long be remembered. An absolute triumph." --Jill McCorkle