The Last Blue

By: Isla Morley

Narrated by: T. Ryder Smith

Length: 11 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's Summary

A luminous narrative inspired by the fascinating real case of "the Blue People of Kentucky" that probes questions of identity, love, and family.

In 1937, there are recesses in Appalachia no outsiders have ever explored. Two government-sponsored documentarians from Cincinnati, Ohio - a writer and photographer - are dispatched to penetrate this wilderness and record what they find for President Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration.  

For photographer Clay Havens, the assignment is his last chance to reboot his flagging career. So when he and his journalist partner are warned away from the remote Spooklight Holler outside of town, they set off eagerly in search of a headline story.  

What they see will haunt Clay into his old age: Jubilee Buford, a woman whose skin is a shocking and unmistakable shade of blue. From this happenstance meeting between a woman isolated from society and persecuted her whole life, and a man accustomed to keeping himself at lens distance from others, comes a mesmerizing story in which the dark shades of betrayal, prejudice, fear, and guilt, are refracted along with the incandescent hues of passion and courage.  

Panning across the rich rural aesthetic of eastern Kentucky, The Last Blue is a captivating love story and an intimate portrait of what it is like to be truly one of a kind.

©2020 Isla Morley (P)2020 Recorded Books

Captivating

This was a beautiful story and so well written, I’m glad my friend recommended it since I wouldn’t have picked it out on my own. I’m generally more of a nonfiction reader but do enjoy historical fiction - usually with the condition that it’s within the culture of the author. Though she didn’t meet that condition, Morley drew me in with her well developed characters and captivating language. Sometimes I found myself feeling emotional just in the way she got to the essence of the human experience with her descriptions. For instance, when one of the characters doesn’t receive a response to a letter of apology, Morley writes “A man can find his footing on rebuke, but silence is a bottomless cavity through which he keeps falling.” YES.

I really enjoyed the narrator’s reading. Sometimes it’s tricky with a lot of different characters and distracting if a ‘voice’ doesn’t match the character in your head. For some reason it bothered me at first that the narrator was male while the author is female but I quickly got over it as it was so well done. :)

A very moving experience!

“…the kingdom is no more grand than them and us under the same roof.” Words to live by from this author.

good partner book for book woman and daughter book

So much happens.It is a wonderful. memorable, gripping story. Much is a part of American history that is with us still.. The story of these characters' livTs and endurance is experienced by , and therefore, resonates with us

listenable

I thought this would be similar to the bookwoman of troublesome creek. It wasn't.

A Hard Lesson and Love Found

I loved this story and the lessons of it. I really enjoyed the narrator. Such excellent writing.

Outstanding!

This is the most wonderful book ever! I could not stop listening and the narrator really brings
it all to life. You feel as if you are right there!!

A beautiful, heart wrenching. story

This story will stay with me for a long time. Emotional, as it stitches humanity's best and worst into a beautiful live story.

Love and prejudice all tied up in one book

Love, prejudice, overcoming fear, grief, joy, hate, revenge, forgiveness all tied up in one book. The book started out a bit slow for me, but I was drawn in and ended up enjoying how it wound around and brought closure to questions and frustrations. Jubilee and Haven’s story was sweet and sad and shows how you don’t choose who you love. There is so much hardship and transformation of these characters and the underlying issue of prejudice is shown for what it is, fear and hate. Great book.

Sad

What a sad sad time in history. I just can’t help the injustice done to anyone just because they are different. The fact that these people suffered so much because of a blood disorder they didn’t even know that had makes it that much more tragic. Characters well done. Hated for it to end.

Such a wonderful story.

All I can say is that this is the best story about the blue people I have read! Wonderful!