The Keepers of the House

Shirley Ann Grau

Sep 2023 · Tantor Media Inc · Narrated by Allyson Johnson

About this audiobook

A "beautifully written" Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about prejudice and a distinguished family's secrets in the American South (The Atlantic Monthly). Seven generations of the Howland family have lived in the Alabama plantation home built by an ancestor who fought for Andrew Jackson in the War of 1812. Over the course of a century, the Howlands accumulated a fortune, fought for secession, and helped rebuild the South, establishing themselves as one of the most respected families in the state. But that history means little to Abigail Howland. The inheritor of the Howland manse, Abigail hides the long-buried secret of her grandfather's thirty-year relationship with his African American mistress. Her fortunes reverse when her family's mixed-race heritage comes to light and her community-locked in the prejudices of the 1960s-turns its back on her. Faced with such deep-seated racism, Abigail is pushed to defend her family at all costs. A "novel of real magnitude," The Keepers of the House is an unforgettable story of family, tradition, and racial injustice set against the richly drawn backdrop of the American South (Kirkus Reviews).

About the author

Shirley Ann Grau is a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist of nine novels and short story collections, whose work is set primarily in her native South. She was raised in Alabama, and Louisiana, and many of her novels document the broad social changes during the twentieth century, particularly as they affected African Americans.

Allyson Johnson began her entertainment career in her hometown of Chicago as an Emmy Award-winning child news anchor. A graduate of Brown University, she is a working actress, singer, and audiobook narrator in the New York City metropolitan area.