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    The Last Noel
    The Last Noel
    The Last Noel
    Audiobook10 hours

    The Last Noel

    Written by Michael Malone

    Narrated by Norman Dietz

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Critically acclaimed author Michael Malone has won the Edgar, O. Henry, Writer's Guild, and Emmy Awards. Booklist hails The Last Noel as a "warm, engaging love story." This moving tale of an improbable friendship was a Book Sense 76 Top 10 selection. Noni Tilden and John "Kaye" King meet as young children on Christmas Eve of 1963. Noni is a white, privileged girl, while Kaye is a poor, black boy. Over four decades, they continue to meet during the holidays, and their friendship endures all obstacles in its path.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateApr 29, 2011
    ISBN9781461811282
    The Last Noel
    Author

    Michael Malone

    Michael Malone is the author of ten novels, a collection of short stories and two works of nonfiction. Educated at Carolina and at Harvard, he is now a professor in Theater Studies at Duke University. Among his prizes are the Edgar, the O. Henry, the Writers Guild Award, and the Emmy. He lives in Hillsborough, North Carolina, with his wife.

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    Reviews for The Last Noel

    3.5/5

    50 ratings9 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Novels set at Christmas are often sweet, the equivalent of Hallmark movies. This isn't always a bad thing (a much loved member of my own family adores these movies) but sometimes you crave a little more substance in your stories. Michael Malone's The Last Noel has that substance mixed with some lovely heartwarming moments and some tear jerking moments as well.Noni Tilden, the wealthy, white daughter of a banking family in a small Southern town was born on Christmas Eve. Kaye King, the poor, black grandson of the Tilden's long-time maid, Aunt Ma, was born early the next morning on Christmas Day. In 1963, the Christmas when Noni and Kaye are seven, Kaye climbs through her window in the middle of the night and urges her to come outside to play in the snow with him on the sled that's waiting for her under the Christmas tree. And so begins a life-long relationship which sees Noni and Kaye's lives intertwine in ways both expected and unexpected.The story of Noni and Kaye spans forty years, twelve Christmases, and an immeasurable distance of the heart. Despite their clear differences, their initial bonding over the snow and the sled binds them together no matter all of the changes in their lives and in the world as a whole. Once close, their lives will diverge as Noni marries and sacrifices her earlier dreams and as Kaye joins the Black Power Movement before going on to become a respected doctor. The story is both epic, touching national, historical, and political events of note, and personal, showing the effect of those events on individual people and families, in its scope. Checking in on the dramas, joys, and tragedies of family life on occasional Christmases over the years, the story of Noni and Kaye's interconnectedness and their deep abiding love for each other, by turns innocent, troubled, remote, supportive, heartbreaking, and heart warming all, is a fitting tale for the holidays. The South of the story is a mild evocation, a fairly genteel South, and its ills are acknowledged and confronted but mostly easily addressed. But the framework of reality is there nonetheless. Not your usual holiday read, this is a good one for readers interested in a seasonally appropriate story that isn't sentimental and over the top twee. Well written and epic in scope, this is Noni and Kaye's story but also a tale of the US writ small.
    • 5/5
      The very touching story between a boy and a girl that span's about 35 years. They meet when the grandson of the maid of the girl's family climbs up to the bedroom window of the girl and gets the girl to come outside to play because it is snowing outside.
    • 4/5
      This is a terrific book. The characters are real people. With the story spanning such a long period of time, you really get to know them. The story is very well written. Its not overly dramatic or sappy. You just want to keep reading.

      Being about the same age as the main characters, I really enjoyed the references to social changes going on around them.
    • 5/5
      What a wonderful story of the infinite love in true friendships that last a lifetime. Incredibly well written with extremely good character development. This is a book well worth reading. Pick it up, you will not put it down. amazing read!
    • 4/5
      I am not one to make a point of reading seasonal books. However, this book was offered for free at the beginning of December. Reading all these Christmas remembrances really helped get me in the Christmas spirit. As I've commented on other books set in the South, I particularly enjoyed the glimpse into this culture, which was so different from my own even though the book covered the same years as my growing up and youth.
    • 4/5
      A lovely love story between two people who never knew they belonged together.
    • 5/5
      I finished "The Last Noel" three days ago and it's still on my mind. Why? Because I cared about the main characters. Having grown up in the South I have some understanding of the white/black servant mentality. When I was small, my Aunt Gin had a black maid named Easter (guess her birthday - she probably didnt know the exact date). I loved her to death. She cooked, cleaned and smiled. I Gin & I taking Easter home from work one day. She wouldn't sit in the front and my little mind wondered "why"? Her house literally looked one step above a shack. But I was small and "that's the way it was." As an adult, I've wanted to explore the minds of Southerners in that era. They dearly loved the people that worked for them but didn't question how they lived. Easter probably received a pittance from my Aunt Gin, who probably thought she was being very generous. * * * Thankfully, things have changed. Noel and Kaye's story helps us understand that. I get teary-eyed thinking of the ending of the book. Thank you Michael Malone for making these people and their story so real to me. I suggest your reading Clarence Thomas's story, "Having Our Say" by the Delaney sisters, and "The Color of Water." They, too, will give you a greater understanding of the black/white experience.
    • 2/5
      This book is about a rich white girl and the poor black boy whose family are her family's servants. The beginning time period is the '60s, so you assume it is going to be a book about race. Not really. It is a very light read with a very unrealistic story.
    • 4/5
      While reading this book, I kept thinking: this is a plot worthy of a movie of the week. But it was so well done, so beautifully written, that I loved it anyway. Grab a box of tissues and a blanket and cuddle up with this book for a while. A good cry can be therapeutic.