First published in 1992, this is the
story of Simone Devereaux, from one of the Creole families. It begins in New
Orleans in 1831 when her father dies in a duel with a man named Marcel Baudin, who
demanded Simone become his mistress in payment of her father’s debts. Having
lost her father, Simone disguises herself as a boy and gets a job at the
fencing club where Baudin and all the young bucks hang out, vowing to have her
revenge.
Marcel searches for her, determined to have
her, but she has a protector, the man her father asked to be her guardian,
Alain de Valliere. Alain, a known womanizer, recognizes her and takes her from
the fencing club, intending to keep her safe. Very quickly (too quickly, I
thought), he declares his love for her. And she for him. But then something
happens to Alain and he disappears.
Once Simone finds herself on
the run from Baudin, she finds refuge with Tom Franklin, a very likeable American steamboat captain, who has great plans to build a
steamboat empire. She offers him a partnership and he accepts so that she runs
the gambling saloon on the Emerald Queen.
The first thing I noticed
about this story is that the author head hops unmercifully from one character’s
thoughts to another. At other times, she drops as the omniscient narrator to
tell us what someone is thinking. I would have preferred one point of view at a
time.
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| Original cover |
This is a long book (448 pages) and reflects
much research into the New Orleans society of the day and the culture of the
Creoles. The author provides vivid descriptions of the places and serves up some
wonderful characters, though the villain, Baudin, was a bit over the top. With
all its twists and meanderings, the story held my attention.
It’s a saga of one woman’s life who was
loved, it seemed, by all the men who met her.
Buy on Amazon.
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