
Mockingbird Summer
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Ren Hanami
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By:
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Lynda Rutledge
About this listen
A powerful and emotional coming-of-age novel set amid the turmoil and profound changes of the 1960s by the bestselling author of West with Giraffes.
In segregated High Cotton, Texas, in 1964, the racial divide is as clear as the railroad tracks running through town. It’s also where two girls are going to shake things up.
This is the last summer of thirteen-year-old Corky Corcoran’s childhood, and her family hires a Haitian housekeeper who brings her daughter, America, along with her. Corky is quick to befriend America and eager to share her favorite new “grown-up” novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. America’s take on it is different and profoundly personal. As their friendship grows, Corky finds out so much more about America’s life and her hidden skill: she can run as fast as Olympian Wilma Rudolph!
When Corky asks America to play with her girls’ softball team for the annual church rivals game, it’s a move that crosses the color line and sets off a firestorm. As tensions escalate, it fast becomes a season of big changes in High Cotton. For Corky, those changes will last a lifetime.
Set on the eve of massive cultural shifts, Mockingbird Summer explores the impact of great books, the burden of potential, and the power of friendship with humor, poignancy, and exhilarating hope.
©2024 by Lynda Rutledge. (P)2023 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.Listeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
“A brilliantly written coming-of-age novel that is set on the eve of massive cultural shifts throughout Texas and the American south, Mockingbird Summer is a deftly crafted novel by Lynda Rutledge.” —Midwest Book Review
“This is a well-thought-out book with a plot that keeps the reader engaged and presents realistic situations from the early Civil Rights Movement. The characters are complex and the depiction of racism only furthers the reader’s compassion for such hateful actions. Highly recommended.” —Historical Novel Society
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Overall
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After a tragic accident claims the life of one of her children, Marie Egide is desperate to carve out a fresh start for her family. With her husband and their three surviving children, Marie travels to New Hampshire, where she plans to sell a family estate and then, just maybe, they’ll be able to heal from their grief. Marie’s plans are thwarted when she realizes a war veteran known by locals as “the river witch” is living in a cabin on the property, which she claims was a gift from Marie’s grandfather. If Davina refuses to move on, Marie won’t be able to either.
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The dichotomy between the characters
- By Linda on 03-24-24
By: Suzanne Redfearn
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The Women on Platform Two
- By: Laura Anthony
- Narrated by: Jessica Regan, Shakira Shute, Maeve Smyth
- Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Dublin, 1969: Maura has just married Dr. Christy Davenport and they look forward to growing their family. But as her husband’s vicious temper emerges, Maura worries that her home might never be safe for a child. Meanwhile, her close friend Bernie, a mother of three, learns the devastating news that if she conceives again, her health complications could prove fatal.
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Fabulous story!
- By kanga2012 on 04-21-25
By: Laura Anthony
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One Good Thing
- A Novel
- By: Georgia Hunter
- Narrated by: Eva Feiler, Georgia Hunter
- Length: 12 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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1940, Italy. Lili and Esti have been best friends since they first met at university. When Esti’s son Theo is born, they become as close as sisters. While a war seethes across borders, life somehow goes on—until Germany invades Italy, and the friends suddenly find themselves in occupied territory. Esti, older and fiercely self-assured, convinces Lili to join the resistance efforts. But when disaster strikes, a critically wounded Esti asks Lili to take a much bigger step: To go on the run with Theo. Protect him while Esti can’t.
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I loved it
- By helene vanderhoff on 04-28-25
By: Georgia Hunter
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The Snow Child
- By: Eowyn Ivey
- Narrated by: Therese Plummer
- Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Alaska, 1920: a brutal place to homestead, and especially tough for recent arrivals Jack and Mabel. Childless, they are drifting apart - he breaking under the weight of the work of the farm; she crumbling from loneliness and despair. In a moment of levity during the season's first snowfall, they build a child out of snow. The next morning the snow child is gone - but they glimpse a young, blonde-haired girl running through the trees. This little girl, who calls herself Faina, seems to be a child of the woods.
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WOW!!! A MUST Listen - even better than reading.
- By Edmund W. Cheung on 02-13-19
By: Eowyn Ivey
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The Jackal's Mistress
- A Novel
- By: Chris Bohjalian
- Narrated by: Marni Penning, Chris Bohjalian
- Length: 9 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Virginia, 1864—Libby Steadman’s husband has been away for so long that she can barely conjure his voice in her dreams. While she longs for him in the night, fearing him dead in a Union prison camp, her days are spent running a gristmill with her teenage niece, a hired hand, and his wife, all the grain they can produce requisitioned by the Confederate Army. It’s an uneasy life in the Shenandoah Valley, the territory frequently changing hands, control swinging back and forth like a pendulum between North and South, and Libby awakens every morning expecting to see her land a battlefield.
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Just ok
- By Gwen on 03-20-25
By: Chris Bohjalian
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The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post
- A Novel
- By: Allison Pataki
- Narrated by: Barrie Kreinik
- Length: 14 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Mrs. Post, the President and First Lady are here to see you. . . . So begins another average evening for Marjorie Merriweather Post. Presidents have come and gone, but she has hosted them all. Growing up in the modest farmlands of Battle Creek, Michigan, Marjorie was inspired by a few simple rules: always think for yourself, never take success for granted, and work hard—even when deemed American royalty, even while covered in imperial diamonds.
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That's 10 hours of my life I'll never get back
- By Andrea L. Helms on 03-30-22
By: Allison Pataki
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The Lincoln Highway
- A Read with Jenna Pick (A Novel)
- By: Amor Towles
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini, Marin Ireland, Dion Graham
- Length: 16 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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In June, 1954, eighteen-year-old Emmett Watson is driven home to Nebraska by the warden of the juvenile work farm where he has just served fifteen months for involuntary manslaughter. His mother long gone, his father recently deceased, and the family farm foreclosed upon by the bank, Emmett's intention is to pick up his eight-year-old brother, Billy, and head to California where they can start their lives anew. But when the warden drives away, Emmett discovers that two friends from the work farm have hidden themselves in the trunk of the warden's car.
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I'm totally opposite
- By Meaghan Bynum on 10-10-21
By: Amor Towles
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The Berry Pickers
- By: Amanda Peters
- Narrated by: Aaliya Warbus, Jordan Waunch
- Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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July 1962. Following in the tradition of Indigenous workers from Nova Scotia, a Mi’kmaq family arrives in Maine to pick blueberries for the summer. Weeks later, four-year-old Ruthie, the family’s youngest child, vanishes. She is last seen by her six-year-old brother, Joe, sitting on a favorite rock at the edge of a berry field. Joe will remain distraught by his sister’s disappearance for years to come.
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basic
- By CF on 03-04-24
By: Amanda Peters
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Memorial Days
- A Memoir
- By: Geraldine Brooks
- Narrated by: Geraldine Brooks
- Length: 4 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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Many cultural and religious traditions expect those who are grieving to step away from the world. In contemporary life, we are more often met with red tape and to-do lists. This is exactly what happened to Geraldine Brooks when her partner of more than three decades, Tony Horwitz–just sixty years old and, to her knowledge, vigorous and healthy–collapsed and died on a Washington, D. C. sidewalk.
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Uninspired, mediocre writing.
- By C. Tyler on 03-04-25
By: Geraldine Brooks
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Sipsworth
- By: Simon Van Booy
- Narrated by: Christine Rendel
- Length: 5 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Following the deaths of her husband and son, Helen Cartwright returns to the English village of her childhood after living abroad for six decades. Her only wish is to die quickly and without fuss. Helen retreats into her home on Westminster Crescent, becoming a creature of routine and habit. Then, one cold autumn night, a chance encounter with an abandoned pet mouse on the street outside her house sets Helen on a surprising journey of friendship.
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A charming antidote for your troubles.
- By Pamela J Wollum on 07-02-24
By: Simon Van Booy
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The Antidote
- A Novel
- By: Karen Russell
- Narrated by: Elena Rey, Sophie Amoss, Mark Bramhall, and others
- Length: 16 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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From Pulitzer finalist, MacArthur Fellowship recipient, and bestselling author of Swamplandia! and Vampires in the Lemon Grove Karen Russell comes a gripping dust bowl epic about five characters whose fates become entangled after a storm ravages their small Nebraskan town The Antidote opens on Black Sunday, as a historic dust storm ravages the fictional town of Uz, Nebraska. But Uz is already collapsing—not just under the weight of the Great Depression and the dust bowl drought, but beneath its own violent histories.
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So disappointed
- By Sarah T on 04-02-25
By: Karen Russell
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Three Days in June
- A Novel
- By: Anne Tyler
- Narrated by: J. Smith-Cameron
- Length: 4 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Gail Baines is having a bad day. To start, she loses her job—or quits, depending on whom you ask. Tomorrow her daughter, Debbie, is getting married, and she hasn’t even been invited to the spa day organized by the mother of the groom. Then, Gail’s ex-husband, Max, arrives unannounced on her doorstep, carrying a cat, without a place to stay, and without even a suit. But the true crisis lands when Debbie shares with her parents a secret she has just learned about her husband to be. It will not only throw the wedding into question but also stir up Gail and Max’s past.
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Simple, Enjoyable, performed 5 stars
- By PM on 02-14-25
By: Anne Tyler
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Beartown
- By: Fredrik Backman
- Narrated by: Marin Ireland
- Length: 13 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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People say Beartown is finished. A tiny community nestled deep in the forest, it is slowly losing ground to the ever encroaching trees. But down by the lake stands an old ice rink, built generations ago by the working men who founded this town. And in that ice rink is the reason people in Beartown believe tomorrow will be better than today. Their junior ice hockey team is about to compete in the national semifinals, and they actually have a shot at winning.
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Miserable
- By Dee Garza on 06-12-17
By: Fredrik Backman
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North Woods
- A Novel
- By: Daniel Mason
- Narrated by: Mark Bramhall, Michael Crouch, Jason Culp, and others
- Length: 11 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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When two young lovers abscond from a Puritan colony, little do they know that their humble cabin in the woods will become the home of an extraordinary succession of human and nonhuman characters alike. An English soldier, destined for glory, abandons the battlefields of the New World to devote himself to growing apples. A pair of spinster twins navigate war and famine, envy and desire. A crime reporter unearths an ancient mass grave—only to discover that the earth refuse to give up their secrets.
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An American Masterpiece
- By Psumissyh on 09-21-23
By: Daniel Mason
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All the Colors of the Dark
- By: Chris Whitaker
- Narrated by: Edoardo Ballerini
- Length: 14 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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1975 is a time of change in America. The Vietnam War is ending. Muhammad Ali is fighting Joe Frazier. And in the smalltown of Monta Clare, Missouri, girls are disappearing. When the daughter of a wealthy family is targeted, the most unlikely hero emerges—Patch, a local boy, who saves the girl, and, in doing so, leaves heartache in his wake. Patch and those who love him soon discover that the line between triumph and tragedy has never been finer. And that their search for answers will lead them to truths that could mean losing one another.
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Best book of 2024
- By Jmo930 on 07-04-24
By: Chris Whitaker
What listeners say about Mockingbird Summer
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- Christine Vanelli
- 02-19-24
Reliving the revelations about racism
There is a line in the book where it says a book should bring the readers experiences to it. This one did exactly that. I remembered my own experiences with it along my teenage years. I was 17 before I saw it full force. But like Corky, I don't think it was clear until then. She had to come face to face with it before it occurred to her that that kind of evil existed. Author brilliantly uses humor effectively, I laughed out loud several times. Such great characters! Hope they make a movie of it! Can't wait to see Lynda Rutledge's next book! Already read West with Girraffs! Brilliant!
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- Rindy Fox
- 02-20-25
A great read for Black History Month
I grew up in Mississippi during this time. This book captures that era so well! The characters were so believable and the reader was spot on. I love this author!
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- SDSG
- 06-01-24
Enjoyed the story of the girls friendship and how her & her brother were humble servants of God
Loved the story, disliked nothing and I think all people of all nationalities should read.
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1 person found this helpful
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- GinGin
- 03-05-24
True Grit
I loved each and every chapter! Thank you for writing this book, I felt ea h and every word!! Thank you
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- ML
- 09-30-24
Mockingbird Summer Captured the 60s!
It brought back so many memories of how prejudice affected so many things back in the 60s. So much unfairness, so much violence, and hurt, and how a young girl saw past those cultural norms to embrace and encourage her friend! Loved it!
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- Amazon Customer
- 03-12-24
Very Good Story
The book was very informative and kept the reader wanting more. Good ending and characters
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- Jen X
- 08-04-24
Don't give up, this takes place in a different era
Mockingbird Summer
“It’s what you make of tragedy that makes you.”
This book took me a little longer to get through than most other books, even her other book which I really enjoyed and the reason I can think is the era or Corky, the main character in the book and boy, what a character she is. I have known a person or two like Corky” I think everyone has; maybe the only difference is age or maybe not. Corky is blissfully naïve even though she never seems to run out of inappropriate questions to ask. I am sure it was the time and small-town Texas but still a sad part of history.
I think everyone should have a Roy Rogers, of their own. 😉 A lot of the book is perhaps small-town America but the main event is the big Softball game at the end of the year and the terrible events that happen right after the game; lives are forever changed including Corky’s. That is the day her eyes are opened, oh, she’s still Corky and she still has a whole lot of growing up to do but she starts to get it. I Think. I love the way America, the only black player on the team for the Baptist Church always seems to run on to the field in the nick of time. I could have been friends with her easily. Pastor Pete’s last sermon is GREAT, it says a lot in only a few words.
Worth the read/listen!
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- S. Frank
- 12-15-24
Timeless
People that you will want to know what happens with them. The author weaves “Kill a Mockingbird” seemingly into the story.
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- Kindle Customer
- 06-10-24
Hoping for a sequel
Overall, I enjoyed this book. Although I think it was probably better suited to younger people, the story and the subject matter were of great interest to me, mostly because I grew up during the same period of time, except that I lived in Michigan then. However, I have lived in the Fort Worth area for going on 30 years, so the bits of Fort Worth history were also interesting. I became very fond of Corkie, especially for her idealism in such a fraught time in our country’s history, and for her self-awareness. I was deeply disappointed in the ending, though, because I also wanted to know what transpired in America’s life after the summer of 1964.
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- jenny yancey
- 06-22-24
Character development
What’s there to dislike? I listen to several books a month, and this stands out.
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