Moonwater

Shocking, adventurous, colloquial, eloquent, and often graphically unforgettable, "Moonwater" leaves impressions indelible as first love. A magical read for the oft disappointed. In the Cajun milieu of Louisiana's Atchafalaya, "Moonwater" is quasi-biographical, borrowing from Pumpelly's birthplace and fundamentalist rearing. His adolescent years, and his philosophical escape from the gumbo of ethnic ritual, portray an inspiring bildungsroman from a small bayou church to a life large as Love. "Moonwater" beats with a passion for love, family, food, books, and all things Cajun; a narrative lyrical and smart, with occasional undercurrents of rage.

Young Professor Garo Daigle returns to his Louisiana backwater home, after a four-year absence, hoping to make amends with his evangelical parents. His hope is quickly turned on its heels by the suspicion of murder, infidelity, and the onus of political corruption. Their reconciliation efforts are marred by pessimism, a dogma on the edge of despair, and a tragic certainty that the Creator is a threat to human existence. Reverend Elwood and Mother Daigle annoy and twist their prodigal son's memories into wrenching confessions, youthful pangs of unconsummated passion, and imagined escapes. These acts become the nexus between the feverish past and a palpable paradise, with Julia Delacroix's fervent love as his guiding star. The succubus of torrid dreams as real and present as hunger and thirst. His longing is easily satisfied, if only his heart will surrender. A cast of rascally characters and the sensuously beautiful Julia he left behind - who, in his absence, has borne a child christened in his name – create the turmoil propelling the plot through three generations relived over a long weekend.

Reared by traveling evangelists, my sheltered years were a moth-swarm of questions and quandaries. I've searched through the fifty states, and much of Europe and Asia, gathering impressions for my narrative. I've been writing since the mid-seventies - poetry (that window on the soul) and short stories, reflecting the uniqueness of station and local. Before college, I was homeschooled, due to my parents' constant travel. As an adult, I've called home by many names: Texas, Georgia, the Netherlands, Massachusetts, Vermont, Louisiana, and now Florida. My hobbies include reading, cooking, gardening, piano (the latter one of my college majors), and writing - making memories into more than they were; for memories are living things, conjoining the past and the future, resurrecting the dead, and imagining the unborn.