I thought this book was very well written. I also really enjoyed the plot and theme of this novel.

I thought In a Blue Birds Eye was an extrememy well written novel

Honor Jane Whitfield, the pricipal character of Anita Clay Kornfeld's literary novel is wise beyone her years (eleven). She lives in the town of Margate, a coal-mining town in Tennessee in the late 1930's. Her mother, Martha Jane, a transplant from southern gentry, yells at Honor a lot. Her father, a scholar, who also drinks too much with the town's lowlifes, teaches at the local highschool that also doubles as a "Hell and Damnation" church whose foot-stomping minister speaks openly against the two blacks who live in the town. "God didn't intend for races to mix."

This wonderful story unfolds with Honor believing in a magic bluebird who lives high above the Big Dipper, can fly anywhere and see anything with his magic eye. And the Devil is everywhere wrapped up in jaybird beathers. The only person who believes her is a dynamic character called Lola, a black woman who's spent time in prison for killing a white man, now paroled in custody of the town's doctor and his mean-spirited wife as a "free maid." Honor is fascinated by Lola and their secret friendship is at the heart of the story. She plots various escape routes for Lola. The sassy dialogue is southern exposure at its best. When the coal mines shut down, also the pending death of Margate, Honor's father sees a way out, moving the family to Kentucky and, through a college friend, he finds employment in a better town.

Lola tries to escape by means of one of Honor's schemes, and what follows is heart breaking as well as a healing for the Whitfields. Reading this classic work of fiction one is reminded of Tennessee Williams, and Harper Lee's beautiful novel, "To Kill a Mocking Bird." From the very first page of "In a Bluebird's Eye," Anita Clay Kornfeld wraps her magic around you and holds you tight for days after you've savored the last word.