Blue Hole Back Home | #1 Amazon Bestselling Author Joy Jordan-Lake

“Sacred's not a word I've ever much liked. But maybe some things, and some places, just are. And maybe the Blue Hole was one of those things."

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First Edition Signed Copy

From the
Amazon #1

Bestselling Author

Winner
"Best First Novel"

Inspired by actual events from her own teenage years, Blue Hole Back Home

explores the tensions and eventual violence that erupts in a small, all-white Appalachian town when a Sri Lankan family moves in.

Ultimately, Blue Hole Back Home is a story not only of the devastating effects of racial hatred and cowardice, but more centrally, a celebration of courage, confrontation, and healing.

A timely novel in our today's world of unrest and social injustices—Blue Hole Back Home continues to be selected as critical classroom and summer reading at various public and private high schools, middle schools, colleges, and universities, including Baylor University.

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In a time when America was technically well beyond the Civil Rights era, there were those in Turtle's small Appalachian town who rejected the presence of someone different. In just one summer—in a collision of love, hate, jealousy, beauty, and a muddy swimming hole —everything changes.

Blue Hole Back Home

In a time when it thought cross burnings and men in white hoods were a thing of the past, a small town confronts a kind of hate it thought had long since died out….

Shelby Lenoir Maynard, nicknamed Turtle, has never much trusted girls her own age, spending her days instead with her brother and his pack of friends.

But when a mysterious Sri Lankan girl of Moorish descent moves to town in the summer of 1979, Turtle invites her to their secret haven: the Blue Hole.

Turtle could not have imagined how much that simple gesture would affect the rest of her life or the lives of those she loved.

As tensions rise, it becomes clear there are those in Pisgah Ridge who reject the presence of anyone different--and those who would welcome the new refugee family.

In just one summer—in a collision of love, hate, jealousy, beauty, and a muddy swimming hole—everything changes.

Joy Jordan-Lake

Buy the Book

Amazon | Bookshop

A Conversation with
Author Joy Jordan-Lake

Q. Blue Hole Back Home is inspired by a true story. How does this novel represent your own story, and what ultimately motivated you to write about it years later?

JJL: Honestly, I've felt haunted by this story. All the characters in Blue Hole Back Home are purely fictional, as is the town of Pisgah Ridge, North Carolina, but the story has its roots in several incidents during my own teen years. Read More

"Behind the Scenes"

Book Details

Blue Hole Back Home

By Joy Jordan-Lake

Kindle Press

Formats: Hardcover, Paperback,

e-book, Audiobook, MP3CD

Pub Date: 10.01.17 | 400 pages

ISBN-10: 069295709X

ISBN-13: 978-0692957097

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Please be sure to write SIGNED COPY in the comments section of your order as you check out, or your order may be filled with an unsigned book.

If you would like Joy to personalize your book, please include how you would like her to do so in the comments section as well, otherwise, we will not know to ask Joy to personalize your book and will fill your order with a signed copy. There is no extra cost for signed or personalized books!
BLUE HOLE BACK HOME. Order Below.

First Edition Signed Copies

Signed Bookplates

For a signed Book Plate by Author Joy Jordan-Lake, send a self-addressed envelope and any details to the address below:

Author Joy Jordan-Lake

P.O. Box 1014
Nolensville, TN 37135

Book Details

First Edition Signed Copies

Amazon | Bookshop

In a time when America was technically well beyond the Civil Rights era, there were those in Turtle's small Appalachian town who rejected the presence of someone different. In just one summer—in a collision of love, hate, jealousy, beauty, and a muddy swimming hole —everything changes​.

​

In a time when it thought cross burnings and men in white hoods were a thing of the past, a small town confronts a kind of hate it thought had long since died out….

Shelby Lenoir Maynard, nicknamed Turtle, has never much trusted girls her own age, spending her days instead with her brother and his pack of friends.

But when a mysterious Sri Lankan girl of Moorish descent moves to town in the summer of 1979, Turtle invites her to their secret haven: the Blue Hole.

Turtle could not have imagined how much that simple gesture would affect the rest of her life or the lives of those she loved. As tensions rise, it becomes clear there are those in Pisgah Ridge who reject the presence of anyone different--and those who would welcome the new refugee family.

In just one summer—in a collision of love, hate, jealousy, beauty, and a muddy swimming hole—everything changes.

Joy Jordan-Lake

Amazon | Bookshop

​A Conversation with Author Joy Jordan-Lake

​

Q. Blue Hole Back Home is inspired by a true story. How does this novel represent your own story, and what ultimately motivated you to write about it years later?

​

JJL: Honestly, I've felt haunted by this story. All the characters in Blue Hole Back Home are purely fictional, as is the town of Pisgah Ridge, North Carolina, but the story has its roots in several incidents during my own teen years. Read More

"Behind the Scenes"

First Edition Signed Copies

In a time when America was technically well beyond the Civil Rights era, there were those in Turtle's small Appalachian town who rejected the presence of someone different. In just one summer—in a collision of love, hate, jealousy, beauty, and a muddy swimming hole —everything changes.

Turtle could not have imagined how much that simple gesture would affect the rest of her life or the lives of those she loved.

As tensions rise, it becomes clear there are those in Pisgah Ridge who reject the presence of anyone different--and those who would welcome the new refugee family.

A Conversation with
Author Joy Jordan-Lake