Meely LaBauve

Fifteen-year-old Meely LaBauve is living by his wits on Louisiana's Catahoula Bay. 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 companionable women, disappearing for days at a time. But the law has it in for Meely's dad; and bully Junior Guidry, nephew of a rogue cop, considers badgering Meely his favorite sport. Not since Huck Finn rafted down the Mississippi has there been a coming-of-age story like this, told in such an utterly authentic, unlettered American voice.