The Last Road Home

De: Danny Johnson

Narrado por: James Patrick Cronin

From Pushcart Prize nominee Danny Johnson comes a powerful, lyrical debut novel that explores race relations, first love, and coming of age in North Carolina in the 1950s and '60s.

At eight years old, Raeford "Junebug" Hurley has known more than his share of hard lessons. After the sudden death of his parents, he goes to live with his grandparents on a farm surrounded by tobacco fields and lonesome woods. There he meets Fancy Stroud and her twin brother, Lightning, the children of black sharecroppers on a neighboring farm. As years pass, the friendship between Junebug and bright, compassionate Fancy takes on a deeper intensity. Junebug, aware of all the ways in which he and Fancy are more alike than different, habitually bucks against the casual bigotry that surrounds them - dangerous in a community ruled by the Klan.

On the brink of adulthood, Junebug is drawn into a moneymaking scheme that goes awry - and leaves him with a dark secret he must keep from those he loves. And as Fancy, tired of saying yes'um and living scared, tries to find her place in the world, Junebug embarks on a journey that will take him through loss and war toward a hard-won understanding.

At once tender and unflinching, The Last Road Home delves deep into the gritty, violent realities of the South's turbulent past, yet evokes the universal hunger for belonging.

©2016 Danny Johnson (P)2016 Recorded Books

I can’t say enough how much I love this book!

This is my favorite book. I’ve listened to it a few times. I really wish this author would write another book.

Good Listen

Every once in a while, I come across a gem of a book, and The Last Road Home is one such gem. I have a love for all things Southern, and especially anything set in Appalachia. In my opinion, stories that take place in Appalachia always have the mountain's, and the strong people who try to live in them as true characters in the story. It's almost like, no matter the theme of the book, the wooded mountain, the grassy fields, or the deep holler is always there, never far from there forefront of all things. I really thought this story was such a good one to tell. I will go back to this book over and over again.

Wonderful book!

Wonderful writer, wonderful reader, wonderfully-drawn characters. Skillful and bittersweet descriptions of this time in the south and beyond.

Real life

This may be the best book I have read in a rear or two and I read several books a week. I grew up in the same era this was written. I witnessed the race issues and the Viet Name war so I related to all the issues. I highly recommend this book to everyone.