Whitney J. LeBlanc grew up in louisiana, then spent more than twenty-five years in theatre and television in Hollywood as a writer, producer and director. He has written scripts for stage, screen and television. His first novel of historical fiction is Blues in the Wind. Shadows of the Blues is the second of a planned trilogy about a Creole family. The third novel Bodacious Blues will be published soon. LeBlanc lives in the Napa valley in California with his physician wife. Between writing novels, he creates stained glass windows
Bodacious Blues (Third novel in a Triolgy)
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Hardcover: 372 pages
Publisher: Outskirts Press (June 22, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1432773003
ISBN-13: 978-1432773007
Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 1.4 inches
Bodacious Blues completes the saga-trilogy of a Creole family from Estilette
Louisiana. From the depression on, three generations of this family have
struggled in the midst of blues music, religious conflicts, lust, lynching,
murder, voodoo, and racism. Now comes the grandchildren of Martha Broussard,
who carve out paths through the changing world, and their stories emerge as
they experience the rites of passage into adulthood. Ann Martel develops
into the doctor that her grandfather hoped her brother would become.
Disappointed in love, she finds contentment and happiness with an older
woman-partner.
Meanwhile, her brother, Les Martel, defies all who challenge the man he
desires to be. Believing in an eye for an eye, he kicks the ass of anyone
who stands in his way. He protests racial intimidation in Estilette, takes
on an abusive lover in Chicago, fights a Paul Bunyan giant in the backwoods
of Bemidji, kicks the ass of a contemptible womanizer in Nashville, and
gives comeuppance to a backstabber in Hollywood. Living life on his own
terms, he soon discovers that Hollywood is not the place he thought it would
be- the values were not his values- the truth was not his truth- trust was
deception- honesty was weakness and loyalty was an unknown word.
In Bodacious Blues, Les Martel brings the saga of this proud family, to a
final conclusion in the 1980's. In a milieu of religious controversy, sexual
cross-identification, and the racial exploitations of Hollywood, he
discovers that coming of age as a man was not as easy as he thought.
Shadows
of the Blue (Second novel in a Triolgy)Binding: Paperback
ISBN: 1432714759
Number Of Pages: 340
Publication Date: October 21, 2007
Publisher: Outskirts Press
Now comes the powerful sequel to Whitney LeBlanc’s Blues in the Wind….
Shadows of the Blues — a story of lust, love and voodoo.
Moving through the tumultuous decades of time, from the end of WWII to the
Civil Rights Movement in the Sixties, the Fergerson/Broussard families’
struggle continues, as Martha, the matriarch of the family, faces life in a
mental institution. Her control continues to reach beyond the walls of her
confinement, as she confesses to a lifetime of wrongdoings which threaten to
destroy her family. In the small town of Estilette, Louisiana, where racism
and injustice are simply a part of everyday life, the family struggles to
escape the shadows of emotional conflicts, which are played out against a
backdrop of the blues.
“Phillip took a deep breath and pulled at his eyebrows. Troubles were
raining down on the family: Lala announced that she was getting a
divorce—Rosa was running around with a man wanted by the law, and Lightfoot
came close to killing Naomi. His family was unraveling right before his
eyes.”
Blues in the Wind (First novel in a Triolgy)
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Amazon
Format: Hardcover, 256pp.
ISBN: 0913515477
Publisher: River City Publishing
Pub. Date: October 2001
Whitney LeBlanc makes his literary debut with an impressive,
multidimensional, highly entertaining family drama, written in the glory of
the blues. I threw open my arms and embraced Blues in the Wind like a
beloved long lost relative. Finally, a family drama with some bite has
arrived. Blues In The Wind is one of the best books I have read this year. A
triumph.
Blues in the Wind is the story of the Fergusons, a middle class Creole
family in 1930s Louisiana. The family clings to a fragile social prominence
that is not easy to maintain in the depression-era south. Phillip Ferguson,
who studied medicine before he married his wife Martha, is the principal of
the local school for colored children. Phillip and Martha have big dreams
and aspirations for their four children, but static plans have a way of
becoming dynamic in undesired directions. During the next three turbulent
decades the events of adultery, death, social ambition and revenge serve to
unravel the Ferguson family. (Read
the rest of this review.)
Related Links
Blues in the Wind by Whitney Leblanc - Reviewed by Thumper
http://reviews.aalbc.com/bluesinthewind.htm
Shadows of the Blues by Whitney J. Leblanc - Reviewed by Emanuel
Carpenter
http://reviews.aalbc.com/shadows_of_the_blues.htm
