Tillerman Cycle

The Tillerman Cycle is a series of children's novels by the author Cynthia Voigt. Currently there are seven titles in the series.

Titles in the Cycle

  1. Homecoming (1981)
  2. Dicey's Song (1982) – winner of Newbery Medal (1983)
  3. A Solitary Blue (1983) – Newbery Honor Award (1984)
  4. The Runner (1985)
  5. Come a Stranger (1986)[1][2]
  6. Sons from Afar (1987)
  7. Seventeen Against the Dealer (1989)

The series doesn't follow a strict chronological order. Dicey's Song, A Solitary Blue, and Come a Stranger are interlocked and overlap. The Runner is a standalone novel and the events in it take place about ten years before Homecoming.

Synopsis

In Homecoming, the four Tillerman children search for a new home after they are abandoned by their emotionally ill mother. Dicey and her younger brothers and sister eventually settle in with their grandmother on a stark homestead by the Chesapeake Bay.

In Dicey's Song, Dicey is confused about where she fits into the family now that Gram has taken over responsibility for the youngsters, but she soon learns that the family still needs her resourcefulness and solid good sense. In her spare time, Dicey works at restoring a derelict sailboat, meticulously sanding down layers of old paint. Metaphorically, her emotional defenses wear away as she slowly opens to hope, friendship, expressive writing, and finally to an acceptance of her mother's death. When Gram and Dicey bring her mother's ashes home, the broken family is nearly healed.

The Runner is about Samuel "Bullet" Tillerman, Gram's son and the children's uncle, and takes place before any of the other books in the series.

A Solitary Blue covers events in the life of Jeff Greene, Dicey's love interest.

Come a Stranger covers events in the life of Wilhelmina Smiths, Dicey's best friend.

In Sons from Afar, James enlists his brother Sammy’s help to find Francis Verricker, who may be the father who deserted them long ago.

Seventeen Against the Dealer resumes Dicey's life story.

Main characters

Recurring supporting characters

Tamer is a main character in The Runner and Come a Stranger. In the first, he is a classmate of Bullet's and runs cross country with him; in the second, it is ten years later and he is a Reverend and father of four.

Mina's father, Reverend Smiths features in Come a Stranger and Sons from Afar. Although a deeply spiritual and religious man, he does not push religion on his children.

Mrs Raymonda Smiths appears in Come a Stranger as Mina's tough, caring, intelligent, insightful mother.

Mr Lingerle is Maybeth Tillerman's piano teacher. He becomes like an extra member of the Tillerman family. He appears first in Dicey's Song and then in Sons from Afar.

The Professor is Jeff's father and a main character in A Solitary Blue. He is an introverted man who is heartbroken over his wife's leaving him when Jeff is seven. As a consequence, the Professor becomes very closed off, even to Jeff.

Brother Thomas is a good friend of Professor Greene's. They meet at the college in Baltimore where they both work.

An English teacher that Dicey and Mina have in Dicey's Song and Jeff has in A Solitary Blue.

References

  1. "Come a Stranger (review)". PW. Retrieved 25 October 2013.
  2. "COME A STRANGER". Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved 25 October 2013.

External links

Les Enfants Tillerman ( French )

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