And halfway through April, we go back to March

I'm a little behind in my reading challenge update but I did get two books done in March so I'm making fairly steady progress.

The Kitchen Help by Kathleen Grissom

The story of Lavinia, a 7 year old Irish immigrant, who ends up working at a southern plantation and her struggles to find a family in a world that doesn't have a place for her. This book was interesting and could have been really good but something was missing. The relationships were the central part of this book and I enjoyed getting to know Lavinia and several of the people who took her in but there were too many characters and you had better not get attached because they drop like flies in this story. The plot was intriguing but a little melodramatic and some parts felt like the author was just killing time (and characters) but then the ending felt rushed. It was the type of book that I enjoyed reading and couldn't put down but when I finished, I realized I didn't really like it that much.

The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton

I loved this book but that shouldn't be a surprise because it was a chinaberry recommendation and I almost always enjoy their selections. It tells the story of a little girl who appears on a pier in 1913 with no name or knowledge of where she came from, Actually this book is actually three intertwined stories: there is Nell, the girl who was taken in and given a loving home but as an adult feels lost without her history to lean on, the story of the people who make up her unknown past, and the granddaughter who continues the search Nell began once she passes away. Since there are three plots, there are also a lot of characters in this one, but unlike The Kitchen Help, Morton manages to make it work. Even those minor characters that only make a short appearance seem to come alive. The mystery of Nell's past is slowly revealed and even though I was able to guess most of the answers before the end, the ending did not disappoint me. In fact, since we know how Nell's story ends much earlier than we know how it started, understanding what physically happened ends up not being as important as realizing how the people involved felt about it and handled those emotions. I highly recommend this story!

Check out Historical Tapestry for more interesting reads.