THE GENTLE BUSH

This is a family story of the venerated Durel's of Bienville, Louisiana- a story of the South, minus glamorizing, a picture of Southerners in rounded terms. Michel dominates the family, overriding other members of the clan, including his brother, whose methods with the land and the people he will not tolerate. When Michel is forced to sell his inheritance, he takes his liberalism into the broader fields of journalism. Paralleling the conflict between the brothers, there's the romance of their cousin, Felice, who dares to marry a Cajun. There's romance and pageantry, nostalgia without sentimentality, flavorful reminiscing about the past. Full-flavored period and regional novel, an exciting ""first"".