But out of Jeff's pain grows a deepening awareness of the unexpected and complicated ways of love and loss and of family and friendship - and the strength to understand his father, his mother, and especially himself. So when she reenters his life years later with an invitation to spend the summer with her in Charleston, Jeff is captivated by her free spirit and warmth, and he eagerly looks forward to returning for another visit the following year.īut Jeff's second summer in Charleston ends with a devastating betrayal, and he returns to his father wounded almost beyond bearing. And the compassion and understanding of this novel are a strong index of what to look for in the rest of the series.Jeff Greene was only seven when Melody, his mother, left him with his reserved, undemonstrative father, the Professor. The answersto the extent that there are anyare as real as the problems themselves. In this story, there is no magic to solve Jeffs problems. The emotional experience of reading it is, suitably, agonizing and terrible, but at the same time lovely. A Solitary Blue (3) (The Tillerman Cycle) Paperback March 6, 2012. This story delves deep into the emotions of growing up, love and hate, friendship and family, agony and terror. And a certain family named Tillerman becomes instrumental in teaching Jeff about family ties, inner strength, and trust. And as the Professor struggles to be the father Jeff needs, and as Jeff struggles to pick up the pieces of his life, they settle in the little Maryland town of Crisfield. Out of the experience Jeff learns to understand both his parents better…and to judge better between being loved and being used. In fact, it is a summer of such bitter disillusionment, such shattering betrayal, that it profoundly screws up Jeffs young life. After a summer of basking in her love, the memory of that feeling keeps him going through another yearand the hope of another summer in Charleston.īut the second summer in Gambos house isnt the same. Then one summer, Melody gets in touch and says she wants Jeff to stay with her and her great-grandmother in their mansion in Charleston. Its heartbreaking to see the effect on a boy of never feeling loved.

Jeff spends the next five years driven by a need to stay out of his fathers way, afraid that if he disrupts the Professors routine, he will go away too. Jeff Greene is seven years old when his mother, Melody, leaves him and his tight-lipped, emotionless father, the Professor. And let me tell you, its one moving story.

This 1984 Newbery Honor Book, from the acclaimed seven-book Tillerman cycle, fills in the back story of a character introduced in Diceys Song.

A Solitary Blue by Cynthia Voigt