Under the Bayou Moon A Novel

Valerie Fraser Luesse

eBook - 2021

Restless with the familiarity of her Alabama home, Ellie Fields accepts a teaching job in a tiny Louisiana town deep in bayou country. Though rightfully suspicious of outsiders, who have threatened both their language and their culture, most of the people in tiny Bernadette, Louisiana, come to appreciate the young and idealistic schoolteacher as a boon to the town. She's soon teaching just about everyone-and coming up against opposition from both the school board and a politician with ulterior motives. Acclimating to a whole new world, Ellie meets a lonely but intriguing Cajun fisherman named Raphe who introduces her to the legendary white alligator that haunts these waters. Raphe and Ellie have barely found their way to each other whe...n a huge bounty is offered for the elusive gator, bringing about a shocking turn of events that will test their love and their will to right a terrible wrong. A master of the Southern novel, Valerie Fraser Luesse invites you to enter the sultry swamps of Louisiana in a story that illuminates the struggle for the heart and soul of the bayou.

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Subjects
Published
[United States] : Baker Publishing Group 2021.
Language
English
Corporate Author
hoopla digital
Main Author
Valerie Fraser Luesse (-)
Corporate Author
hoopla digital (-)
Online Access
Instantly available on hoopla.
Cover image
Physical Description
1 online resource
Format
Mode of access: World Wide Web.
ISBN
9781493430420
Access
AVAILABLE FOR USE ONLY BY IOWA CITY AND RESIDENTS OF THE CONTRACTING GOVERNMENTS OF JOHNSON COUNTY, UNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, HILLS, AND LONE TREE (IA).
Contents unavailable.
Review by Booklist Review

Luesse (The Key to Everything, 2020) transports readers to the lush and hauntingly beautiful Louisiana bayou in 1949. Ellie Fields, a new teacher, feels called "to serve where she is needed most" and leaves her home in Alabama to travel to Bernadette, a tiny town in the Atchafalaya Basin, at the start of this sweet love story. But Ellie is horrified to learn upon her arrival that she will be teaching approximately 50 children in a tiny two-room schoolhouse and that she is under a mandate to get the children to stop speaking French by any means possible. Cajun fisherman Raphe Broussard is quickly introduced to the pretty school teacher via his seven-year-old nephew, Remy, whom he has been raising on his own since the death of the boy's parents. Luesse ramps up more conflicts with the introduction of a legendary white alligator known as L'esprit Blanc and a corrupt local politician who is trying to gain access to bayou land for the oil rights. Readers who enjoy Lynn Austin's faith-filled historical romances will be pleased to discover Luesse.

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Luesse (Missing Isaac) charms with this excellent post-WWII love story set in the bayous of Atchafalaya Basin. Cajun Raphe Broussard is raising his nephew Remy on his own when Ellie Fields, the town's new schoolteacher, arrives from Alabama. Unlike previous teachers, who all wanted to beat the French language out of students, she endears herself to the children and the town with her respect and hard work. She also catches Raphe's eye. But trouble is stirring as a powerful oil company sets its sights on what could be a fortune in oil buried beneath the town. Luesse's multifaceted, lyrical tale dazzles with larger-than-life villains searching for a big payday, a mythical albino alligator, a mysterious "esprit Blanc" that allegedly roams the swamps, and a lovable cast. Faith themes are organic and subtle, and the sweet romance between Raphe and Ellie unfolds nicely against the backdrop of Ellie's introduction to the community. Readers who enjoy Southern romances will love this. (Aug.)

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