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Shirley Ann Grau
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The Hard Blue Sky: A Novel Kindle Edition

by Shirley Ann Grau (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 186 ratings
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“An arresting and beautifully written novel” about a young woman who yearns to escape her life in Louisiana, by a Pulitzer Prize–winning author (The New York Times).

West of New Orleans among a few small Gulf islands lies the Isle aux Chiens, a tiny, impoverished strip of land burdened by intolerable heat and roaming packs of wild dogs. Here a handful of Creole families eke out a meager existence by fishing the Gulf waters. Such is the fate of Al Landry and his seventeen-year-old daughter, Annie. All Annie has ever known is the wild sea, but she longs for other people and places, including the glamor of life in the Big Easy. When a cruel, handsome sailing boat pilot from the city passes through, he kindles Annie’s fantasies for a life beyond the island. Soon, the young girl faces a decision: remain planted in the predictable life she has always known, or toss it all aside for her dreamed-of adventure.
 
Elsewhere on the island, eighteen-year-old Henry Livaudais disappears on a hunting expedition, sparking a feud with a neighboring settlement of Yugoslavian oystermen. As the summer heat intensifies, his father tries to discover why Henry left the isolated fishing settlement.
 
By the author of The Keepers of the House, this novel follows two teenagers on the cusp of adulthood as they look for an escape from their Southern homes. The National Book Award–shortlisted author establishes herself as the master chronicler of bayou life in this debut novel that captures the complexities of the Deep South’s most impoverished corners.
 
This ebook features an illustrated biography of Shirley Ann Grau, including rare photos and never-before-seen documents from the author’s personal collection.
 

 
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  1. Print length
    477 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Open Road Media
  5. Publication date
    April 10, 2012
  6. File size
    4046 KB
  7. Page Flip
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  8. Word Wise
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  9. Enhanced typesetting
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“A large and delicately colored panorama of summertime on a hot and lonely island off the coast of Louisiana.” —The New Yorker
“An arresting and beautifully written novel.” —The New York Times

About the Author

Shirley Ann Grau (b. 1929) is a Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist of nine novels and short story collections, whose work is set primarily in her native South. Grau was raised in Alabama and Louisiana, and many of her novels document the broad social changes of the Deep South during the twentieth century, particularly as they affected African Americans. Grau’s first novel, The Hard Blue Sky (1958), about the descendants of European pioneers living on an island off the coast of Louisiana, established her as a master of vivid description, both for characters and locale, a style she maintained throughout her career. Her public profile rose during the civil rights movement, when her dynastic novel Keepers of the House (1964), which dealt with race relations in Alabama, earned her a Pulitzer Prize.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B007GSU1JE
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Open Road Media (April 10, 2012)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ April 10, 2012
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 4046 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 477 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    3.9 3.9 out of 5 stars 186 ratings

About the author

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Shirley Ann Grau

Shirley Ann Grau

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Shirley Ann Grau (b. 1929) is a Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist of nine novels and short story collections, whose work is set primarily in her native South. Grau was raised in Alabama and Louisiana, and many of her novels document the broad social changes of the Deep South during the twentieth century, particularly as they affected African Americans. Grau’s first novel, The Hard Blue Sky (1958), about the descendants of European pioneers living on an island off the coast of Louisiana, established her as a master of vivid description, both for characters and locale, a style she maintained throughout her career. Her public profile rose during the civil rights movement, when her dynastic novel Keepers of the House (1964), which dealt with race relations in Alabama, earned her a Pulitzer Prize.

Customer reviews

3.9 out of 5 stars
3.9 out of 5
186 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

E. Ingham
5.0 out of 5 stars Curl Up For A Long Slow Read And Enjoy!
Reviewed in the United States on September 13, 2017
Verified Purchase
I've just finished Shirley Ann Grau's novel The Hard Blue Sky. My mother grew up in a little Louisiana bayou town and she eventually married and moved to New Orleans where, thankfully, I grew up. So, I was sucked in by the premise of this book - leaving a place that will probably stay the same forever - people who will probably stay the same forever - for someplace you believe to be 'cosmopolitan', like New Orleans and what it would take to stay where you were. And that is explored, so wonderfully, in the characters Grau has created.

The novel is a small snippet of time passing in a very small town. Tragedy. Joy. Anger. Lust. Love. It's all there waiting to explode.

I thought the dialect was right on. I can still hear it in my mind from so long ago. That almost English/almost French way of speaking.

Ellespeth
6 people found this helpful
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Kath Gilliam
4.0 out of 5 stars Depiction of community on a Gulf island
Reviewed in the United States on December 16, 2016
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Enjoyable book after you get into the stark mood of the story and familiarize yourself with the community, its cast of characters and their peculiar way of speaking. It contained some mild suspense and some excitement, necessary to keep the reader engaged in what is a rather depressing tale. It doesn't really have a plot, as much as it provides the reader with a view of a chunk of time in an island community off the Louisiana coast and the culture of a fishing community. It struck me as decidedly Seinfeldian, a book about nothing. I was taken aback by its abrupt end. Written beautifully, which covers a multitude of sins for me.
5 people found this helpful
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Nancybabs
3.0 out of 5 stars The Hard Blue Sky
Reviewed in the United States on November 30, 2016
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I enjoyed "The Hard Blue Sky" but was left hanging by the ending. I don't know if the author has plans to do a sequel or not, but that's how I felt at the end - like there was a 'to be continued' sign. Outside of that, though, I found it a very interesting read about topics with which I was unfamiliar.
3 people found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars The Hard Blue Sky: An intriguing Louisiana Gulf island story.
Reviewed in the United States on March 11, 2018
Verified Purchase
This book takes you into the lives of hard working families living on a small island in the lower Mississippi River delta area in the upper Gulf of Mexico. Their dialogue is interestingly written in the Cajan style. The story includes many intriguing personalities of both old and young adults and their children. One featured character is a teenage girl who can't make up her mind as to what she wants to do with her life. On the down side, the story stops without telling the reader what happens to her after she leaves the island. The story also leaves several other unanswered questions as to what happened. I think that the book begs for a sequel.
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Claudia L. Einertson
4.0 out of 5 stars Island Thinking
Reviewed in the United States on February 19, 2019
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I enjoyed this book, but I also felt it dragged at times. I especially enjoyed the culture of this island and it’s inhabitants. It was difficult for me to follow the thinking of Annie; I would have guessed she had mental problems. Also, the complacency in general was foreign.
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J. A.
5.0 out of 5 stars I fell in love. While it understandably invites comparisons with To Kill ...
Reviewed in the United States on December 30, 2016
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I first read Grau's The Keepers of the House a few years ago--in preparation for speaker on Grau's work. I fell in love. While it understandably invites comparisons with To Kill a Mockingbird, the scope of Grau's work was more far reaching. I am just finishing The Hard Blue Sky and like it even more than Keepers.Grau not only gets into the personalities, but she inhabits the characters' cultures and belief systems. It's beautiful, touching writing.
9 people found this helpful
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Chris Petrela
2.0 out of 5 stars Boring
Reviewed in the United States on October 14, 2016
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Very boring book, all dialogue, not much insight into the characters mind...
2 people found this helpful
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SBFeinsod
4.0 out of 5 stars If you love character studies, read this.
Reviewed in the United States on September 28, 2017
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Grau's easy pace perfectly frames the laid back lives of inhabitants of a tiny island off the coast of Louisiana. Easy, natural, in tune with their environment, these people nonetheless struggle with all the basic decisions in life. Bad blood arises in a confrontation with neighbors from an adjacent island. Well defined speech idiosyncrasies and social mores immerse the reader.
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Top reviews from other countries

Woodblock
5.0 out of 5 stars Slow but rich.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on October 18, 2017
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I don't know why this book is listed with only one star because there seems to be many who enjoyed it very much. It is the best book I've read since The Shipping News. It is a slow book but all the better for it I think, like a rich, slow cooked stew, something to be savoured. I loved it.
One person found this helpful
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Gwardar
2.0 out of 5 stars Tedious
Reviewed in Australia on December 16, 2018
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A long book without anything seeming to happen, no revealing of characters’ personalities, just a somewhat superficial description of fairly monotonous lives on a small fishing island
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