Book Beginnings on Fridays is hosted each week by Rose City Reader. It’s a chance to share the first sentence or so of the book you are reading this week. You can check out others’ book beginnings here. I’ll share a quote from the 56 percent mark for the Friday 56 hosted by Freda’s Voice! I’m also going to link up with Carrie at Reading Is My Superpower for First Line Friday.
This week’s book beginning:
Synopsis:
From New York Times-bestselling author James Lee Burke comes a novel set in Civil War-era Louisiana as the South transforms and a brilliant cast of characters – enslaved and free women, plantation gentry, and battle-weary Confederate and Union soldiers – are caught in the maelstrom.
In the fall of 1863, the Union army is in control of the Mississippi River. Much of Louisiana, including New Orleans and Baton Rouge, is occupied. The Confederate army is in disarray, corrupt structures are falling apart, and enslaved men and women are beginning to glimpse freedom.
When Hannah Laveau, a formerly enslaved woman working on the Lufkin plantation, is accused of murder, she goes on the run with Florence Milton, an abolitionist schoolteacher, dodging the local constable and the slavecatchers that prowl the bayous. Wade Lufkin, haunted by what he observed—and did—as a surgeon on the battlefield, has returned to his uncle’s plantation to convalesce, where he becomes enraptured by Hannah. Flags on the Bayou is an engaging, action-packed narrative that includes a duel that ends in disaster, a brutal encounter with the local Union commander, repeated skirmishes with Confederate irregulars led by a diseased and probably deranged colonel, and a powerful story of love blossoming between an unlikely pair. As the story unfolds, it illuminates a past that reflects our present in sharp relief.
Wade Lufkin
Morning on the Lady of the Lake Plantation can be a grand experience, particularly in the late fall when the sky is a clear blue and the wind is blowing in the swamp, Spanish moss lifting in the trees, and thousands of ducks quacking as they end their long journey to the South.
I am not sure that I am altogether welcomed by Miss Marie. She is a handsome woman in a plump way, but suspicious of strangers, I suspect, particularly a fellow with a face like mine.
The great irony of my evening is that I am with women of color who speak Spanish, French, and English, while only a short time ago I was with two cardinal examples of the white race who can barely speak their own language.
Are you hooked yet? This book has sucked me in. Look for my review next week!
Book Blogger Hop is hosted by Coffee Addicted Writer. It starts each Friday and runs through the following Thursday. Each week, there’s a new prompt featuring a book-related question. It’s designed to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, make new blogging friends, and gain followers. See what others have to say on this topic and link up your own post here.
Which character do you identify with and why?
(submitted by Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer)
I can relate to any character who’s a little left of center: probably bookish, reserved at first, the ones who aren’t all sure of themselves and confident of everything they do. I’m the socially awkward one who comes out of her shell once she gets to know you. Those characters? They are me.
What about you? Any particular characters or types you relate to? Leave a comment! Visit the other Hop bloggers!
Clever quote about languages. Enjoy!
I relate to characters that find themselves in unhappy circumstances and work to change those circumstances. Here’s my BBH: https://bonniereadsandwrites.com/2023/07/06/book-blogger-what-character-do-you-identify-with/
I’m intrigued for more! Happy weekend!
I hope you enjoy this one. Have a great weekend!
I didn’t like this week’s question. Relatability connects people to characters. Not identity. I take these two words to have different meaning.
My post: https://snapdragonalcoveblog.wordpress.com/2023/07/07/what-character-do-you-identify-with/