Bayou Brides

"After much sorrow, much joy. My dear Michel has built me a home. My long-lost mere is nearby. Comforte sleeps on my shoulder as I hold the pen. Life is full." -From the journal of Capucine LeBlanc (pp130, 256, 325)

 <<Sorry for such a small picture>>

Seeing as how this has been my second time to read this book, I would have to say that it is pretty awesome. I put it on the list thinking that I was delusional when I claimed to have read it a few years back, however I discovered, within a few sentences, that I had indeed read it before. And yet I couldn't put it down, because the stories are short, sweet, and even a little inspirational.

This book is a collection of four short stories, their common factors being a family and the home in which they all loved through the generations. Oh, and their undying faith in God. A faith that, while tested, has held strong through the hardships the members of the family encounter.

• Capucine is ripped from her mother's arms during Le Grand Derangement. As her and her sister travel with the nun Sister Marie-Agathe they struggle to find their mother. Meanwhile, Capucine meets Michel LeBlanc, a fellow Acadian who catches her heart.
• Josee Broussard is taken into the LeBlanc family when her parents die. On her 18th birthday Papa LeBlanc, in the tradition of the family, announces her betrothal to his oldest son Edouard who has kept his heart under lock and key since coming back from the war to find his true love had married another. Both must let down their gaurd in order to make their marriage work.
• Nicolas LeBlanc comes home from the war to find a strange woman has stepped into his family's lives to help them through the trauma of loosing Nicolas's father. Not only must he accept the changes that have occured in his small home town, but also the help this woman is trying to offer him.
• Justin LeBlanc is having to deal with an empty house as the last of his sisters marries and moves away. In the midst of considering moving away as well, Justin is confronted by an intriguing woman who envies the roots his family has that she has lacked.

Yes they are love stories, not only between the main characters of each story, but also between them and God. I believe the authors do a great job of weaving their stories together. Although I must say, the characters reunions with God are much easier than many I have witnessed, but they are sincere nevertheless. I enjoy reading these tales repeatedly and hope everyone else is given the chance to relax with them.