Under the Bayou Moon by Valerie Fraser Luesse

 

This is the third book I have read by Valerie with her fourth sitting in my night stand. I will read any book she writes. I love her way of writing, the stories she pulls together from the south. 

This book is set in Louisiana, deep in the bayou. Travel is mostly by boat and as I read the descriptions of going from one channel to the next, I was lost in the reading of it, and am sure I would have been hopelessly lost had I needed to travel that way. Alligators are prevalent with a legend about an all-white alligator for whom a bounty has been set. 

Into this setting comes Ellie Fields. She's from a small town in Alabama and she is searching for home, a place to belong. She comes to teach school, falls in love, and lives the rest of her days there. And while that's a theme in the book, it doesn't feel as overarching as it can in some books. There is also the alligator bounty, there is an outgoing, gregarious man who becomes a dear friend of Ellie's, there is foul play that goes on, and there is segregation in the schools yet that Ellie wants to fight against. 

It's a story of belonging, a story of home, a story of friendship, and an illustration of what greed can do, the hurt it can cause. 

I really enjoyed this book and now I really want to go read "The Key to Everything" as soon as I get caught up on some of my other reading. 

I received this book from Revell and was not required to write a positive review.  All opinions expressed are my own.