FABULOUS ANCESTOR

The aura of New Orleans 'misty charm pervades this recall of a boyhood year spent with his grandmother, the ""fabulous ancestor"" of his title. The moods and interpretations of a ten year old seen through adult eyes emerge as an enchanted world, which extends from Granny's house on Felicity Street to Father Sebastien's mission. ""The boy's"" world is peopled with Granny with her tales of ancestors and her grand dame quality; Tante Bebe, Granny's closest friend who gave ""the boy"" a snuffbox Lafitte had used; Uncle Bob, ""ill fit knight"" in the contemporary South and harking back to the Old South for which he was born; Mr. Ligorno, the tailor across the way; Cleo the West Indian cook who relinquished possibilities when she became a Catholic convert instead of a voodoo queen; dashing Father Dagobert and kindly Father Sebastien, true fisher of men; and sundry friends and relatives who stirred up rich confusion in mingling old Creole ways with the newer trends. Particularly good for a Catholic market.