Blue Jesus: A Novel

Two Southern boys bring a miracle—and chaos—to their small town in "a deceptively fun read packed with colorfully realized characters" (Atlanta Journal Constitution).This is the compelling story of two boys, one white and one blue, who live in a small town in the North Georgia mountains in 1963. The trouble begins when the boys find the body of a baby abandoned in the town garbage dump. The narrator of the tale, Buddy, runs for help. His best friend, Early, a gentle boy with blue skin descended from the Blue People of Troublesome Creek, takes that dead baby in his hands and conjures the infant back to life.This miracle ignites a firestorm of controversy—and Early becomes known as Blue Jesus, the blue boy with the power to heal. Colorful and honest, with humor, heartbreak, and ultimate redemption, Blue Jesus, inspired by the true story of the Fugates, a nineteenth-century Kentucky family with a genetic condition that turned their skin blue, is a novel of friendship, family, faith, and the power in a commonality of differences. Read more