Just Once

Life along the Mississippi in 1817 is the colorful setting for this cozy unpretentious tale. Fresh out of convent school, wealthy, imaginative Jemma O'Hurley flees a forced marriage, only to find her adventurous heart has landed her in a maze of dark, dangerous streets in New Orleans. One of her (many) prayers are answered by the big, burly buckskin-clad Kentuckian Hunter Boone (a distant cousin of Daniel). The narrative is straightforward--a series of rescues, some involving Jemma, some not--sustained by Landis's well-deserved reputation for eloquence. ( ""A dream can be a very cold and lonely thing, not unlike the snow that reflected blue-white beneath the sun."") Here, Landis offers jeopardy, modest bits of humor and lots of sweetness. (June)