Under the Oak Tree

Synopsis: After her brother-in-law was falsely accused of assassinating a popular politician, Aunt Marie lost her teaching job. A street named after her family was renamed, and her beloved sister, along with her infant son, fled to France in search of anonymity. Aunt Marie remained in her childhood home, picking up the pieces.

This is the story of how a once-prominent family fell from grace after an event that changed the course of history in Louisiana-and perhaps beyond. Filled with the sights and sounds of her Victorian parlor, the busy front porch, and the aroma of crawfish, these vignettes about the Old South come alive through Gretchen Dubit's charming turn of phrase and conversational style, welcoming readers into an intricately woven novel rooted in Louisiana's Cajun culture. Full of local flavor and family stories, "Under the Oak Tree" opens a lace-curtained window to Louisiana's past, where families gathered to revive traditions and share long-ago tales-sometimes revealing secret histories.

Autobiography: Gretchen Dubit, originally from New York, now lives on a ranch near Durango, Colorado, where she and her husband run a sled-dog outfitting business, offering tours of the Southwest Mountains. She often finds herself explaining how she ended up in Colorado, coming from New York with Louisiana roots. Her family fled Louisiana after her grandfather was implicated in a well-known political assassination. When not running dogs, she teaches English at Fort Lewis College and is the mother of two grown children.