Flags on the Bayou

A Novel

By: James Lee Burke

Narrated by: MacLeod Andrews, Michael Crouch, Dana Gourrier, Marin Ireland, January LaVoy, Ray Porter

Winner of the 2024 Edgar Award for Best Novel!

From American master James Lee Burke comes a novel set in Civil War-era Louisiana as the South transforms and a brilliant cast of characters—enslaved and free women, plantation gentry, and battle-weary Confederate and Union soldiers—are caught in the maelstrom.

In the fall of 1863, the Union army is in control of the Mississippi river. Much of Louisiana, including New Orleans and Baton Rouge, is occupied. The Confederate army is in disarray, corrupt structures are falling apart, and enslaved men and women are beginning to glimpse freedom.

When Hannah Laveau, a formerly enslaved woman working on the Lufkin plantation, is accused of murder, she goes on the run with Florence Milton, an abolitionist schoolteacher, dodging the local constable and the slavecatchers that prowl the bayous. Wade Lufkin, haunted by what he observed—and did—as a surgeon on the battlefield, has returned to his uncle’s plantation to convalesce, where he becomes enraptured by Hannah. Flags on the Bayou is an engaging, action-packed narrative that includes a duel that ends in disaster, a brutal encounter with the local Union commander, repeated skirmishes with Confederate irregulars led by a diseased and probably deranged colonel, and a powerful story of love blossoming between an unlikely pair. As the story unfolds, it illuminates a past that reflects our present in sharp relief.

James Lee Burke, whose “evocative prose remains a thing of reliably fierce wonder” (Entertainment Weekly), expertly renders the rich Louisiana landscape, from the sunsets on the Mississippi River to the dingy saloons of New Orleans to the tree-lined shores of the bayou and the cottonmouth snakes that dwell in its depths. Powerful and deeply moving, Flags on the Bayou is a story of tragic acts of war, class divisions upended, and love enduring through it all.

Critic reviews

"After award-winning author James Lee Burke delivers his introduction, a series of introspective monologues is brought vividly to life in six stellar performances. The setting is Louisiana during the late days of the Civil War. MacLeod Andrews, Michael Crouch, Dana Gourrier, Marin Ireland, January LaVoy, and Ray Porter portray all manner of humanity, including a ragtag collection of Union and Rebel soldiers, slave owners and slave catchers, free and enslaved women, and a deranged colonel and his band of marauding Confederate killers. The narrators deliver deeply felt first-person stories that neatly intertwine, and Burke delivers the epilogue. The unique narrations and Burke’s poetry weave a dreamscape of beauty, love, hatred, and horror—a reminder of the disastrous results that once arose in a divided nation."

Good

Enjoyed book interesting story great narrators did miss not having Will Pattern over all worth the listen.

Other worldly

This is the kind of book that has me immediately starting it again. So much to wonder over.

Took awhile

I was not pleased with this novel—at first, but I kept going. I became engaged with the characters, especially Pierre Cauchon and Miss Darla. As always, Burke’s poetic prose is beyond words and captivating. The name Burke was mentioned in the story, and I wonder if JLB was mentioning his ancestors.

A True Masterpiece

Just plain awesome JLB has a god given gift Can’t wait for his next book

Never disappointed!

I was transported into the period of this story by Mr Burke’s prose. The various narrators flesh out the characters so well. His writing style always astonishes me and never disappoints!