Meely LaBauve

Fifteen-year-old Meely LaBauve is growing up on Catahoula Bayou and living by his wits. His father is an alligator hunter, still unable to cope with the death of his wife eight years earlier. He finds comfort in bottles of hooch and with companionable women and disappears for days at a time.

Denver Post

Do yourself a favor and become acquainted with Emile LaBauve.. a cross between Huck Finn & Oliver Twist, with south Louisiana accent and a backwoods attitude.. There's a major talent at work here.

Ken Wells is a senior writer and features editor for page one of The Wall Street Journal. In 1982, he was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for The Miami Herald. He lives with his family outside Manhattan.