Book of the Week: Glory Over Everything

 I just realized that it’s been exactly 3 years since I read The Kitchen House.  I just re-read my review of this amazing book and realized I read it in 2013 while  in Panama City during my oldest son’s 14U baseball tournament in Panama City, Florida.  How coincidental that I read the sequel during my youngest son’s 14U baseball tournament in Ft. Myers Florida.   I prefer Panama City…it is cooler and closer.  However, that tournament in 2013 was completely rained out!  I’ll never go to Ft. Myers in the summer again unless I HAVE to.   I’m seriously breaking out into a sweat just thinking about it.

The weather and the location didn’t have any bearing on my opinion of each of these books.  They are both excellent and even though I don’t think you need to read The Kitchen House in order to read the sequel (Glory over Everything) I do believe that it will enhance your experience.  In fact, I started Glory over Everything and stopped to read The Kitchen House synopsis on the internet because I wanted to remember more details.

I really appreciate these characters and learning about their history, struggles and the inhumanity of the times.  James Pyke Burton is such a fascinating  character.  It’s so hard to understand that even though he looked 100% Caucasian that the fact that he was (secretly)  25% black made him fearful for his life and made all the difference in the world in whether or not he could save Pan and convince Caroline’s father that he was suitable for her….