Under the Bayou Moon

Starred review from June 14, 2021
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.

Starred review from July 1, 2021
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.

COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

July 1, 2021
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.

COPYRIGHT(2021) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from August 27, 2021

Luesse (Missing Isaac) unfolds another beautiful story of poverty, community, and love in the Southern United States. The students in Luesse's fictional Cajun community of Bernadette, LA, despise school. It's an understandable emotion when out-of-town teachers refuse to teach Cajun history and heritage and even hit students with rulers or take away privileges if they're caught speaking French. When starry-eyed Ellie Fields arrives to teach in Bernadette, she is shocked by many things: alligators in the bayou, one teacher for all grades--but mostly the prejudice against her bilingual, Catholic students. Politicians and remote school boards view Bernadette, a town without indoor plumbing or electricity, as backwards, but its radical hospitality for neighbors proves this small town is more forward-thinking than most. As Ellie gets to know Bernadette, she finds the courage to stand up to corruption using the "bayou attitude" that privileges a person's skills--how well they sing, dance, play music, cook--over the color of their skin or the identity of their parents. VERDICT Luesse's latest will have huge cross-over appeal for general fiction readers. Hand it to fans of Lisa Wingate's The Book of Lost Friends and Susie Finkbeiner's Stories That Bind Us.--Christine Barth, Scott Cty. Lib. Syst., IA

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