The Love Charm

Morsi continues her heartland romances about insular societies--the rules they follow and the rules they get around. In 19th century Louisiana, five Acadians and a German search for love: Armand Sonnier fears he's not cute enough for Aida Gaudet, the prettiest girl on the Vermilion River; Laron Boudreau is pledged to Aida but in love with Helga Shotz, almost 10 years his senior and still married; and Jean Baptiste Sonnier and his wife Felicite are young and saddled with three children and a fourth on the way. As usual, Morsi's hero doesn't conform to the romantic ideal. In Simple Jess he was simpleminded; in The Love Charm, Armand is shorter than the heroine--when they finally dance she can see the part in his hair--and he's a virgin. In Morsi's finely drawn, anthropologically correct landscape, virtue enhances pleasure on the moral road of ""Love. Sexual union. Procreation. Eternity."" (Nov.)