Super Short Summary

In Reynolds Price's Southern literary novel Blue Calhoun, set near Raleigh, North Carolina, the protagonist Blue Calhoun, a 35-year-old devout Catholic, marries Myra Burns and adores their daughter, Madelyn. However, Blue's life unravels when he becomes obsessively attracted to a 16-year-old girl, Luna, leading to a series of betrayals and moral conflicts that he later confesses to his granddaughter. This book contains portrayals of relationships with significant age disparities and themes of infidelity and abuse.