"Memory and history are bound up with one another. Where does one end and the other begin?" *

Miss Judith Kratt has spent her entire seventy five years in the small town of Bound, South Carolina.  She lives in her childhood home which was once a grand symbol of Bound's strong economy, owed largely to her father who owned the cotton gins and the general store.  Her childhood friend Olva, who was abandoned as a baby on her aunt's doorstep, lives with her.

As a child, Judith didn't understand that Daddy Kratt built his wealth on hard work and blackmail.  Her brother Quincy was his ears, collecting the secrets of everyone in town to use when it would benefit him the most.  Her sister Rosemarie was always quiet on the periphery because she realized how dangerous secrets could be.  

On a fateful night in 1929, Quincy was shot and killed.  Rosemarie left town that night and hasn't returned since.

Sixty years later, Judith has received a postcard with one sentence: Sister, I am coming home.

The postcard stirs up her memories of the year her brother died and as she looks around her home, still full of heirlooms attached with memories, Judith decides to begin an inventory of items.

"It is important to know that Rosemarie has never been bound by any sense of responsibility to our family. You see, Quincy gathered secrets, but Rosemarie's impulse was to scatter them to the wind. And my sister believes I killed Quincy. Well now. It was time to get my inventory underway." *

As Judith begins an inventory of the items and her sister Rosemarie returns after a sixty year absence, secrets of the the past are revealed that will change a family and a town forever.

The Last List of Miss Judith Kratt is a beautifully written novel that examines family secrets, memory, and love.  Judith's narration in alternating timelines is well-executed with the naivete of youth in the past and the solemn introspection that comes with age in the present.  I loved the different versions of the truth that unfolded and how each version shifted the perspective of each character involved.

This is definitely one to stack for fans of historical fiction and mystery that focuses on familial bonds and secrets!

Thanks to Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.  The Last List of Miss Judith Kratt is scheduled for release on July 9, 2019.

*Quotes included are from a digital advanced reader's copy and are subject to change upon final publication.

I almost gave up this book about 30% of the way through. It sounded a lot like an old privileged white lady complaining and grumbling about the world. We get enough of that in the media but I’m so glad I stuck with it. Having spent some of my teenage years in the Deep South, I really understood the more racist parts of the book and the division in the community. The hatred. The rage.

To take a journey through this story enraptured by the characters and setting. To enjoy the slowly maturing and revealing threads of secrets, which friends and family have held close. To witness the family dynamics across a spectrum of personalities. To appreciate the slow transition between whites and blacks in society and the true appreciation of equal standing. That is the amazing experience awaiting the reader of this wonderful book.

The Last List of Miss Judith Kratt is a totally absorbing novel with such beautiful writing reminding us of the classics. The book is written from the first person perspective, with Miss Judith Kratt narrating over 2 time periods; when she was a young girl of 15 in 1929, and as an elderly lady of 75 in 1989.

Daddy Kratt is a stern man, ruthless in business and ambitious to the point where he effectively controls the town of Bound in South Carolina. He owns the cotton gins and several plantations, he built the department store that sold everything needed by the community and is a landlord with 500 acres of land.

As a young girl, Judith is the eldest of 3 children and works for Daddy Kratt in the Department store keeping inventory and running tours of the 4-floor department store. Judith’s brother Quincy, is the son striving to impress the domineering and powerful father. He skulks around, eavesdropping to uncover secrets or misdemeanours that can be leveraged against anyone, which he furnishes his father with. Rosemarie is two years younger than Judith, still flighty and is excused from working in the store. All three children grow up with Olva, a black girl of the same age, whom their Mama had a special fondness for.

As the older introspective woman, Judith has aged with various biased beliefs and a recognition that the family house and standing, are synonymous with her. She shares her life in the Kratt family mansion with Olva, who has remained with Judith her whole life. Judith decides to undertake an inventory of all the possessions within the house. Many of the items have deep meaning or sentimental value, and each with their own story which is told during the earlier time period and listed in the latter. This is a brilliant way to draw the two eras together and those threads that run across time bring an appealing aspect to the novel. Judith receives a postcard from Rosemarie indicating she’s coming home after 60 years away, and the old memories come flooding back.

“You see, Quincy gathered secrets, but Rosemarie’s impulse was to scatter them to the wind. And my sister believes I killed Qunicy. Well now. It was time to get my inventory underway.”

Secrets permeate every relationship, and different versions of the truth weave a complicated story that illustrates how the ambiguity of perception can underpin false incrimination and the stances people take. Even after 60 years, secrets can be exposed.

This book is a literary delight to immerse yourself in. The writing is beautifully descriptive with a wonderful array of characters including, family, servants, employees, business partners and town folk, all adding amazing dimensions to the characterisations and interplay. The secrets and consequences are worth waiting for, even though you may guess them. That’s not the point – the journey is the appeal.

This is another Buddy Read with Beata and she used some wonderful terms describing Judith that I wish I’d thought of. You’ll have to read her review to find out. I would highly recommend this book and I’d like to thank Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC version in return for an honest review.

I love a good Southern family saga and this debut novel from Andrea Bobotis did not disappoint.

Moving back and forth in time from 1929 to 1989, Judith Kratt sits on her front porch and reflects on her life. As she does so, she decides to make a list of all the family possessions. Each item stirs up memories and Judith brings all the family secrets to the surface as she completes her list.

Daddy Kratt, an overbearing and greedy man, rules the household and the town by instilling fear in others. He has gathered a sort of small-town “mafia” and uses his son Quincy to spy on people. It is not surprising that the defining moments of Judith’s past center around him.

In 1929, things came to a boiling point and life for the Kratt family changed in a profound way.
Judith slowly reveals the events of that time as she lists the family possessions and tells the story behind how some of the items came to be in the family and the meaning behind them.

This is a great story to read at the start of summer, when sitting on the front porch is so pleasant and it’s easy to feel that you’re sitting right on the porch with Judith as she tells the Kratt family history.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for allowing me to read an advance copy and offer my honest review. I look forward to reading more from Andrea Bobotis.

Totally believable story of the nouveau rich,old money, family secrets and lies and the rise and fall of social status over several generations. Reeks of the possibility of being great Southern literature that would deserve a dissection in an English class. I particularly found it interesting because of the geographic area used as the setting . I am quite familiar with that portion of SC and understand the culture of the area and of the state in the years this book encompasses. No spoilers here. Jacket cover and others have given adequate descriptions of specific content. Read and enjoy.
I enjoyed the book. It is thought provoking.
Thanks to the author and publishers for the ARC. The opinions expressed are my own.

The title is very telling in that the focus is on a list of family heirlooms being made by the protaganist Judith Kratt as an old, old woman. (That list grows and grows as the book continues and you read the list many times each with the new additions.

We go back and forth from Judith's present (1989) as she catalogs and the past (mostly 1929) as she remembers how the items came to be in her family home. The family home she somehow still lives in with no seems of income or support was a bit off putting. It was slow at times and rushed at times which makes for a very choppy book in terms of flow and connecting to the characters. It was also oddly predictable for me.

Thank you Netgalley for the ARC.

"Some bury their secrets close to home. Others scatter them to the wind and hope they land somewhere far away."

Bobotis weaves a tale of dark family secrets that resurface during Judith's inventory of her family heirlooms. Interspersed with flashbacks to 1929, this story is set around a small Southern Carolina cotton town and the Kratt family's influence on the town of Bound and people in it.

I found the characters to all be quite shallow and generally difficult to like. Albeit being very ignorant, I felt sorry for Judith and I really disliked her sister and the relationship she had with Olva and Quincy. The story moved slowly at times and I felt the build up to the "fateful evening" was underwhelming. While being a fan of southern historical fiction, I felt this story was missing something. Great writing however not enough for me.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for an ARC in return for an honest review.

What I loved about this book is that it truly does incorporate a list; in a very unique way. Miss Judith Kratt is getting older and decides to start taking an inventory of everything in her family home. As she creates the list in present day, she takes you back to memories surrounding items on the list and with these memories; she slowly tells you her family’s story. The Kratt family is well known in Bound, South Carolina and the entire story feels crafted in a way that will feel as if you are opening a present. The characters are well developed and in most cases, likeable and relatable, The story is tragic, sad, and at times even romantic; it spans 70 years. The story drew me in and I found myself sitting right next to Miss Kratt on her porch as she told the story. I highly recommend this jewel of a novel!

”My father might have been frugal with his words, but he spared no expense for this grand house. Built from sand-yellow brick, it was like the sun itself, or so Daddy Kratt made it feel, with the whole of Bound orbiting around it.”

Judith is in her mid-seventies as this begins, this story goes back and forth through time, alternating between the present year – 1989, and the past – 1929, in the small town of Bound, South Carolina, where her father once reigned, living in the once grand home that has seen better days.

In her earlier years, Judith worked in her father’s store, keeping the records of their inventory, and she begins to do the same with items in the family home, which has been home to only Judith and Olva, a woman who serves as Judith’s companion, and friend, who also helps to take care of her. Judith’s brother, Quincy, died sixty years ago, and her sister, Rosemarie ran off after his death.

And then Judith receives mail letting her know that Rosemarie is coming to visit, and Judith begins her “list,” an inventory of the items in the home which are family heirlooms, and the secrets attached to each slowly come to the surface. Family secrets, but also the secrets kept by the town, as well. Some secrets she might prefer remain buried, and some begin to haunt her – and she can’t help but be disturbed by the return of her sister, and the timing of her leaving to begin with. What does her sister want after all these years? She continues on with cataloguing all of the items. In part because she feels she will be remembered for these items, ”the mahogany secretary in the hallway, the peach R.S. Prussia vase on the mantel, my grandmother’s pie safe in the kitchen…”

”She exhaled. ‘Memory and history are bound up with one another. Where does one end and the other begin?’”

”’It has always seemed to me that the more we touch something, the more we draw it up into ourselves, so that when that thing goes away, it is still within reach, its traces lingering on our fingertips.’”

Memories, families, racial division and love are the primary themes in this story, which is a very slow moving story, and it took me too long to really feel invested in this story, chasing different memories over time – but I have to say that the ending wrapped everything up so that most of my initial hopes weren’t completely dashed – just a bit diminished. The writing is occasionally lovely, and the full story behind all of the hidden whispers from years past eventually comes to light, which provided an almost perfect ending for this story.


Pub Date: 09 Jul 2019

Many thanks for the ARC provided by Sourcebooks Landmark

Judith, the narrator, is now an elderly woman, exploring her past primarily through the heirlooms in her home. The house contains many heirlooms, some valuable, some not so valuable and Judith decides she needs to inventory these items. As she lists each item, it triggers a memory. The story starts in the late 1920s, when her family controlled the town of Bound, South Carolina. As Judith describes her childhood, she tells us of her domineering father Daddy Kratt, her quiet mother who was free to go spend time with her sister, Dee, knowing there was help in the household to care for her three children and the murder of her brother, Quincy, who made it his business to know everyone's secrets. Her sister Rosemarie fled from Bound at least fifty years earlier. She returns home to find Judith attempting to do the inventory and relying on her companion, Olva. Rosemarie is not afraid to ask the hard questions and as the story unfolds, the repercussions of choices and how they reverberate through the years are explored.

Judith’s fixation with her inventory and how the items on it have become her entire world, gives the novel a great Southern touch. There can be a fine line between appreciating your belongings and letting them rule you. The story is richly written and each chapter reveals more and more about what really happened.

Thanks to NetGalley and Andrea Bobotis for an ARC.

I received this book "The Last List of Miss Judith Kratt" from NetGalley and all opinions expressed are my own. This book dragged on for me. I really tried to read it and I even tried to skip a bit. But I have to say this is a DNF for me. I just could not get into the story at all.

I just love southern Literature!!! This book takes place during the depression. Very well written and such a solid read. I thoroughly enjoyed!!
The characters are so realistic. This book reads like a mystery. Felt like I was sitting on the porch with Judith Kratt listening to all her life’s memories. Highly recommend!!

What an enjoyable read! As someone who lives in the South, I love to read Southern literature. In this story, our main protagonist deep dives into her family history by cataloging family heirlooms in her house. I loved that the narrative spans a wide timeline - the 1920's through the 80's, in exquisite southern detail. This truly is a beautiful story, and Judith is such a wonderful character. I loved reading a book told through the lens of someone who has lived a full life. I highly recommend this one for lovers of southern literature, a great female lead character, and historical fiction.

Every once in a while, I read a book that really makes me miss college and the discussions we would have in my English classes and seminars. Andrea Bobotis’ upcoming The Last List of Miss Judith Kratt is one of those books. The plot isn’t overly complicated and the characters aren’t particularly compelling, but there is so much to analyze and talk about and right up to the last pages, I found myself surprised by the level of layers the text contains.

Judith Kratt takes immense pride in the house her father built along with everything inside it. As she starts to feel her seventy plus years, she tells Olva (who’s lived at the house with her since her father died) that she is going to make an inventory of everything in the house. But before Judith gets too far in her list, her younger sister Rosemarie reappears after having run away sixty years before, following the death of their brother, Quincy, under circumstances that shook the Kratt family and everyone in their small town of Bound. Her arrival disrupts the household but also brings the newspaperman, Marcus, and his daughter, Amaryllis, into a more prominent place in their lives (Marcus being the great-grandson of the man everyone believes killed Quincy). Judith makes her list, the items in the house bring back memories and stories of those weeks before her brother’s death along with a number of family secrets and the roles they played.

With the key events around her brother’s death set in the American south just as the stock markets were beginning to crash and trigger the Great Depression, the novel leaves plenty of room to discuss issues of both class and race. Daddy Kratt’s position in the town is one that he built for himself using more than a few underhanded means, and Quincy was already showing an aptitude for uncovering and wielding people’s secrets in order to maintain and further advance the Kratt family fortunes. The tensions that linger into the “present” (1989) with the Bramletts attest to the ways that prejudices and power have shifted and evolved more than vanished.

The central town is called “Bound” for a reason (several actually). Beyond those social boundaries the community live by in terms of race and economic power, it’s the ties and obligations of family, friendship, and community that are at the heart of the novel. Judith is tightly bound to the town and her family’s history. Poverty and obligation bind others to the faltering town. For some, those ties threaten to be too tight (Olva chaffs from time to time, as does Judith’s mother). For others, cutting those ties is the only way to keep going (as Rosemarie does after Quincy’s death).

Admittedly, it was only in the final pages of the novel that I remembered there is another way of looking at the word ‘bound,’ that it can look forward as well, as in, “whither are you bound?” That is the sense of the word that begins to come forward as the novel reaches its conclusion. That it’s possible to bind yourself to the past or to a single place, but it is also possible to break free and move on.

The Last List of Miss Judith Kratt will be available July 9, 2019.

The Last List of Miss Judith Kratt by Andrea Bobotis
Source: NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark
Rating: 5/5 stars

Dear Reader,

If you have followed me for any length of time and really read my reviews, you know I am a lover of good, solid, real characters. In fact, my history will show you I am always going to choose characters over nearly every other aspect of a book. The Last List of Miss Judith Kratt is a ginormous read with such strong characters that I found it hard to put down. What’s more, there isn’t a single character in this book I liked – NOT ONE! – yet I still loved this book.

My reading history and reviews will also reveal my love of books that mix the past and the present and that is exactly what I got with this book. Miss Judith Kratt, a proper Southern woman from an old family is nearing the end of her life and to that end, she is determined to inventory the goods and items in her home for the sake of posterity. As the inventory begins, Miss Judith is taken away, deep into her family’s tragic past to relive how each item, each object factored into the awful that is her history. Even to Miss Judith it seems the items are the carriers of the past, the conduits of tragedy making her list and her memories even more painful.

For decades, Miss Judith has worked to ignore her family’s history. If pressed, she will recount her family’s successes while glossing over the uglier truths those with long memories can still recount. Those truths most certainly involve bigotry, classism, bribery, bullying, and any number of criminal activities up to and including murder. Oh yes, the Kratt family most certainly epitomizes infamy and Miss Judith has worked hard to forget not only these ugly truths but her role in many of them. It isn’t until her inventory begins and long-lost sister comes back home that Miss Judith begins to face the ugly truths of her past.

Make no mistake, Miss Judith’s numerous trips down memory lane coupled with her sister’s recollections are shocking to all involved and completely alter how both women view the events of their collective past. In fact, the secrets and memories that leak out and sometimes get spat out are vile, horrible things that have been allowed to fester for decades. The unearthing of these secrets, the revelations cause everyone involved to rethink their long-held beliefs, especially towards one another.

To make matters far, far worse, Miss Judith and her sister are also dealing with a situation in the present that is beyond distressing. What’s more, as the past begins to come to light, the present situation is greatly impacted and causes the Kratt sister’s to make some difficult decisions that will not only right some of the wrongs of the past, but secure the future for the only innocents in their respective lives.

The Bottom Line: Seriously, there isn’t a single likeable character in this entire book and that made me love it all the more! The merging of the past and the present, the revelation of some very ugly truths, and the despicable acts of literally everyone made this book so very entertaining. Make no mistake, this is by no means an easy read, nor does it deal with easy topics, but the richness, the fullness of the characters and their truly terrible personalities amplify the awful and that very much appealed to me. What one ultimately sees at the end of the read, which is also the end of Miss Judith’s inventory, is an accounting of actions, attitudes, and endeavors and the breaking of a cycle of secrecy that has poisoned a family for decades. For myself, I found this debut novel to be absolutely engrossing and I can’t wait to see what Andrea Bobotis dreams up next!

The Last List of Miss Judith Kratt was a surprising read. I enjoyed it more than expected.
Judith Kratts looks back on her childhood/life through family heirlooms that still impact her and her family today.
Beautifully atmospheric we are taken back to Depression times.

This book was great!! I cannot wait to read another book by the author, Andrea Bobotis. This book was a slow read for me, which is not common-- because I felt like I needed to reflect on the story as I was reading it. Very well written!

( 3.5 Stars )
This was a hard book for me to review. Ultimately, it was a wholesome, southern comfort read with some heavy subject matter and vibrant characters that I kept myself wrapped up with until the very last page. But the story just sort of laid all its cards on the table from the get go and I felt it would have been stronger with a bit more mystery to it, to keep you invested and scurrying along to keep up.

This is told over two time periods, with Miss Judith in her elder years cataloguing her family’s heirlooms and reflecting on her childhood and the events that took place then, which are coming back to affect her now. There’s a lot of family history and drama and misunderstanding that all comes flowing out once Judith starts picking the past apart.

The history is rich and the secrets are juicy, but they are pretty obvious to the reader. I don’t know if that’s intention or not, but nothing took me by surprise through the book and I think a little surprise would have helped things.

The characters were a mix of different colourful beings, lots of different attitudes and beliefs clashing together to create the perfect storm. I enjoyed them all, though I can’t say I was totally invested in any of them. They made for nice acquaintances, but I didn’t feel any further drawn to them than that.

I appreciated the unique approach, telling the story through the list that Judith was making, but I felt that it didn’t fully live up to the potential. It was well written and had a comforting vibe, but I felt it was missing that something that would have made this a great read.

A slowly unfolding and thoroughly enjoyable novel, narrated by 75 year old Judith Kratt. Nearing the end of her life she decides to make a list of all the items in her home.
As she examines each article she recounts stories from her past.
Every one of these family heirlooms has a tale to tell and with each chapter the list of objects grows, gently weaving the whole story together uncovering much more than we first imagine.
This book hooked me in slowly and I’m glad I stayed with it till the end, a very worthwhile read.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for the ARC.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The author's writing style drew me in quickly. From the first page, I felt as though I were on Miss Kratt's porch, surveying "my" town. I found the premise ingenious: by having Judith writing an inventory of possessions, she shares her family's history and their secrets. I was amazed by how smoothly the stories moved from past to present. The characters weren't always likeable....because they're so realistic. I highly recommend to anyone who enjoys literary fiction.