A Solitary Blue

Tillerman Cycle Series

Author: Cynthia Voigt

Book 3 in the Tillerman Cycle series

Pages: 256

Published: 1983

Age: 11+

Jeff Greene was only seven when he came home from school to find a note from his mother. She felt that the world needed her more than her 'grown up' son did. For someone who believed she could see the world's problems so clearly, she was blind to the heartache and difficulties she heaped upon her son, leaving him with his reserved, undemonstrative father.

So when, years later, she invites Jeff to spend summers with her in Charleston, Jeff is captivated by her free spirit and warmth, and a happiness he's been missing fills him. But Jeff's second visit ends with a devastating betrayal and an aching feeling of loneliness. In life, there can be emotional pits so deep that seemingly nothing will grow—but if he digs a little deeper, Jeff might just come out on the other side.

About the Tillerman Cycle Series

Books in series order

  1. 1.Homecoming(1981)
  2. 2.Dicey's Song(1982)
  3. 3.A Solitary Blue(1983)
  4. 4.The Runner(1985)
  5. 5.Come a Stranger(1986)
  6. 6.Sons from Afar(1987)
  7. 7.Seventeen Against the Dealer(1989)

Reading age: 11+ years

This series should be read in order.

It's still true . . .

That's the first thing James Tillerman says to his sister Dicey every morning. It's still true that their mother has abandoned the four Tillerman children somewhere in the middle of Connecticut. It's still true they have to find their way, somehow, to Great-aunt Cilla's house in Bridgeport, which may be their only hope of staying together as a family.

With just eleven dollars to their name, the children—aged between six and thirteen—set off on a journey across America towards an uncertain future. Will their resourcefulness and their love for one another be enough to survive? This celebrated series by Newbery award-winning author Cynthia Voigt is heartfelt, shocking and thoroughly engrossing.

A Note on the Reading Order:
The only book to have a definite reading order is the first, Homecoming, as the narratives of the other books overlap. Dicey's Song, A Solitary Blue, and Come a Stranger are the most interlocked and can be read in any order following Homecoming and before Sons from Afar and Seventeen Against the Dealer. The Runner is a stand-alone prequel, the events of which take place approximately ten years before Homecoming.