"Deep look at the lives of slaves"

In 1862 South Carolina, Confederate soldiers warn Missy Claire that 6000 Yanks are marching towards her Plantation and arming slaves. Missy is angry and panicking as she orders her slaves but talks down to them as if they are cattle or pets, which is how she sees them. Field slave Grady informs house slave Kitty that he plans to run away and would like her, the woman he loves, to come with him to freedom. Kitty hesitates as she has lost the ability to make decisions having spent her life having her massahs tell her what to do.

As Kitty struggles whether to run off with Grady or stay with Missy, she reflects back to the early 1850s when she as a child met her young mistress. Kitty, called Anna, back then, had some kittens that Missy wanted, but her mother said no that anything owned by a darkie is diseased. So Missy tells her mom that she wants the darkie as her kitty. Since then Kitty has always done whatever her owner tells her to do, but now with war everywhere can Anna be resurrected from the dead?

This deep look at the lives of slaves and to a lesser degree their owners in the decade just before and during the Civil War is an insightful historical tale. Readers will be stunned by the incredible characterizations inside of a world turned upside down for so many people. The story line rotates between Anna-Kitty and Grady, but fans observe how others in their circle read. Fans of the Antebellum South will want to read the latest Refiner's Fire tale as Lyn Austin hits on all cylinders with a fantastic novel.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted November 15, 2004

Summary

Refiner's Fire book 3 Kitty, a house slave, always figured it was easiest to do what she'd always done--obey Missy and follow orders. But when word arrives that the Yankees are coming, Kitty is faced with a decision: will she continue to follow the bidding of her owners, or will she embrace this chance for freedom? Never allowed to have ideas of her own, Kitty is overwhelmed by the magnitude of her decision. Yet it is her hope to find the "happy ever after" ending to her life--and to follow Grady, whom she loves--that is the driving force behind her choice. Where will it lead her?