The Full Matilda is a 2004 novel by David Haynes. The Housewrights have a family legacy of service, their father, Jacob, having served as the venerable black majordomo to a rich and powerful U.S. senator in Washington DC But each successive generation scoffs at the service legacy, gravitating toward the catering business but anxious to drop the subservience of the serving class. Matilda Housewright, the strong-minded and willful daughter of Jacob, provides the focus for this novel which takes place from The Roaring Twenties to The Turn of the Millennium. After Jacob dies, Matilda's brother, Martin, embarks on a catering business and cuts out Matilda, leaving her on the sidelines. But her impervious nature and impeccable taste keep her at the center of the family as Martin's sons are sent t