How long is it?
320 pages in the Vintage 2003 paperback edition.
Fiction · Novel · Literary Fiction · Historical Fiction
The Keepers of the House
Reading facts
✓ Checked- Reading effort
- 43 / 100Moderate
- Length
- 320 pagesVintage · 2003
- Reading time
- 6 h 30 minat 50 pages an hour ·
- Pace
- Measured
- Emotional intensity
- 4 / 5
About 6 h 30 min · at 30 minutes a day, about 13 days
Estimated from the page count of this edition. Dense books can take longer than the estimate.
About the book
Abigail Howland grows up on her family’s rural Southern estate under her wealthy grandfather William and Margaret Carmichael, the Black woman who keeps his house. She inherits generations of family stories along with the Howlands’ standing in the community, then marries an ambitious segregationist politician. When William and Margaret’s relationship becomes public knowledge, the town turns against Abigail, bringing her family loyalties into conflict with the racial order her husband defends.
Reader notes
The family saga unfolds across generations, lingering over memories and the surrounding swamps, fields and woods. Its reflective passages lead into a bitter confrontation with racism and violent community hatred; the landscape and family history matter as much as the immediate conflict.
How it reads
- Writing style
- Descriptive
- Tone
- Reflective · Tense
- Structure
- Framed
- Driven by
- Character
- Point of view
- Mixed viewpoints
- Setting
- Alabama
Reading complexity
- Writing
- 3 / 5
- Ideas
- 3 / 5
- Structure
- 3 / 5
- Background knowledge
- 1 / 5
About this profile
Collected’s assessment, not reader ratings. Complexity runs from 1 (least demanding) to 5 (most demanding).
- Writing
- How much attention the sentences and language require.
- Ideas
- How much interpretation or abstract reasoning the book asks of you.
- Structure
- How much you need to keep track of speakers, timelines and connections.
- Background knowledge
- Prior knowledge needed to follow the book, beyond what it explains.
- Emotional intensity
- Emotional pressure, from gentle (1) to intense (5). Separate from difficulty.
Themes
- Family
- Identity
- Legacy
- Race and racism
Content notes
- Violence
- Strong
- Sexual content
- Mild
- Swearing
- Strong
- Substance use
- Mild
- Abuse
- None
- Self-harm or suicide
- Mild
Questions readers ask
Which edition is shown here?
Vintage · 2003 · Paperback. ISBN 9781400030743.
How long does it take to read The Keepers of the House?
About 6 hours 30 minutes at 50 pages an hour, based on the 320-page Vintage edition. Dense books can take longer.
About the author
Shirley Ann Grau
Shirley Ann Grau was an American fiction writer whose novels are rooted primarily in the Deep South, especially historical Alabama and Louisiana. Her fiction repeatedly brings socially charged subjects into historically grounded settings, giving questions of race and gender a concrete regional frame. Death, destruction, abortion, and interracial relationships recur in her work. Although Southern settings and women’s experiences are central to her reputation, her range was not confined to either. Her work has become an important subject within Southern literature, women’s studies, and feminist literary study.
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Edition and details
- Publisher
- Vintage
- Publication year
- 2003
- Format
- Paperback
- Pages
- 320
- ISBN
- 9781400030743
- Edition language
- English
- Original language
- English
- First published
- 1964
- Genres and form
- Fiction · Novel · Literary Fiction · Historical Fiction · Literary fiction
- Editions
- 1
- Languages
- 1 (English)