title: The Keepers of the House
author:  Shirley Ann Grau 
description: What happens if a wealthy, white Southern man falls in love, marries, and has children with his black housekeeper after his white wife has died? If he lives in the country and is discreet, if his light-skinned children are sent off to school and he never tells anyone he is actually married, perhaps nothing. But what about his children and grandchildren? Winner of the 1964 Pulitzer Prize, <b>The Keepers of the House</b> attacks the hypocrisy of Southern racism and examines the results of rage and revenge through the members of the Howland family. The narrator is Abigail Howland, white granddaughter of William Howland and his first wife, the only one left to face the wrath of the town after the secret is exposed. Complex and defiant, enmeshed in racism and familial obligations, she is compelled to go back through her family history in order to understand herself, her father, and the South. Shirley Ann Grau is a masterful storyteller; even though we know something shocking is coming, caught up in the emotions of the moment we sometimes forget where the memories and stories are leading until suddenly we are confronted by Abigail's dramatic and electrifying revenge on the town which has risen up against her. <i>-- For great reviews of books for girls, check out <a href="/exec/obidos/isbn=0140257322/${0}">Let's Hear It for the Girls: 375 Great Books for Readers 2-14</a></i>. -- <i>From <a href="/exec/obidos/isbn=0140175903/${0}">500 Great Books by Women</a>; review by Erica Bauermeister</i>
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  # The Keepers of the House
  
  
  ### Shirley Ann Grau
  
  
  ![img](logo.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  # CONTENTS
  
  
  [Abigail](5-chap1.xhtml#chap1)
  
  
  [William](7-chap2.xhtml#chap2)
  
  
  [Margaret](11-chap3.xhtml#chap3)
  
  
  [Abigail](15-chap4.xhtml#chap4)
  
  
  [Epilogue](19-chap5.xhtml#chap5)
  
  
  [A Biography of Shirley Ann Grau](21-biography.xhtml#biography)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  IN the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men
  shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those
  that look out of the windows be darkened,
  
  
  AND the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is
  low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of
  musick shall be brought low;
  
  
  ALSO when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in
  the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a
  burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the
  mourners g