The Bad Behavior of Belle Cantrell: A Novel

by Loraine Despres

Overview

Belle Cantrell felt guilty about killing her husband and she hated that. Feeling guilty, that is. A lady shouldn't do something she's going to feel guilty about later was a rule Belle kept firmly in mind.

Welcome to the world of beautiful, irrepressible Belle Cantrell, years before she becomes grandmother to Sissy LeBlanc of Loraine Despres' bestselling The Scandalous Summer of Sissy LeBlanc. It is 1920, prohibition is in full swing, women are clamoring for the vote — and in the little town of Gentry, Louisiana, narrow-minded intolerance is on the rise. Sent to jail for swimming in an indecent bathing costume with a group of suffragists, Belle Cantrell knows her behavior broke the rules. But sometimes — most of the time — she has to twist the rules a little, because they all say the same thing: "Don't."

A sexy, sassy story of murder, adultery, romance, bigotry, and regular church attendance, with laugh-out-loud humor and a cast of zany, endearing characters you won't forget, The Bad Behavior of Belle Cantrell is a big comic love story . . . and much more.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780060515263
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	06/13/2006
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	5.31(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.79(d)

About the Author

Loraine Despres is the author of the bestselling novel The Scandalous Summer of Sissy LeBlanc and its tie-in title, The Southern Belle's Handbook. Raised in Amite, Louisiana, Despres is a former television writer and international screenwriting consultant. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and continues to enjoy bad behavior.

Editorial Reviews

Best Prequel of 2005” — New Orleans Times-Picayune

From the Publisher

Best Prequel of 2005

New Orleans Times-Picayune

In 1920s smalltown Louisiana, a woman who got her hair bobbed at a barbershop, bathed "indecently" and spent her free time carousing with her best friend's married Yankee brother would hardly be considered the portrait of a proper lady. But protagonist Belle Cantrell isn't after virtue, she's after independence. In this prequel to The Scandalous Summer of Sissy LeBlanc, Despres, herself a native Southerner, introduces readers to Sissy's grandmother, the strong-willed Belle of Gentry, La. The book opens with Belle confessing she feels no guilt for "killing" her husband of 16 years, Claude, and Despres successfully spins the rest of her story against a turbulent political backdrop. Belle (who has a horse named Susan B.) fights for women's right to vote, battles the local Ku Klux Klan and works as the overseer of the family property. Each chapter begins with a platitude plucked from Belle's Southern Girls' Guide ("Only a fool answers every question a man puts to her," etc.). Despres's galloping prose and Belle's consistent liveliness effectively cover the lack of much else, including the substance in the predictably dashing but dangerous Mr. LeBlanc, the man who becomes Sissy's grandfather. 6-city author tour. (Oct.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

After The Scandalous Summer of Sissy LeBlanc, the story of Sissy's grandmother, who shocked 1920s Gentry, LA. With a six-city tour. Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Young widow tosses caution-and bloomers-to the wind in 1920s Louisiana. After losing her husband Claude the very day he returns from WWI, "flower of southern womanhood" Belle Cantrell bobs her hair in a symbolic gesture of emancipation that transforms her life, and shocks her small town of Gentry. Her narrow-minded neighbors should not be so surprised, since Belle is a remarkably forward-thinking former child bride who named her daughter after pioneering suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and who pays her loyal black employee Luther a "white man's wage." With Claude gone, Belle struggles with the guilty belief she may have "killed" her husband, who died in a saloon fight ostensibly defending her honor. (Seems there were some photographs of her being arrested in New Orleans on an "indecency" charge for swimming while wearing a too-revealing wool swimming costume.) Her grief is considerably eased when she takes up with Rafe Berlin, the shell-shocked vet brother of her best friend Rachel, who just happens to be Jewish. And a Yankee. And married. As if that were not enough, Belle tangles with Cajun scoundrel Beauregard "Bourree" LeBlanc, a sinfully attractive young man she hires to help her run the thriving farm Claude partially left to her. Belle's ill-advised dalliance with Bourree-whose idea of a wholesome family outing is to take Belle, her daughter and mother-in-law to a Ku Klux Klan picnic-sets in motion a rip-roaring chain of events. Soon, Belle is called upon to save Rafe and his family after the spurned Bourree convinces his white-sheeted "brothers" to go after the only Jews in Gentry. In this often funny prequel to The Scandalous Summer of Sissy LeBlanc (2001), former screenwriterDespres demonstrates a fine ear for witty dialogue, even if the moronic Klansmen and assorted bigots Belle squares off against make easy targets. Breezy and enjoyable despite some southern-fried cliches.

Kirkus Reviews