The Flower of the Chapdelaines by George Washington Cable

In the "Vieux CarrE" of New Orleans, the last remnant of old Creole life in the city, Geoffrey Chester, a young lawyer, is struck by the charm of a Creole beauty whom he daily meets on his way to the office. It is love at first sight. But because of the exclusivity of the Creole society to which she belongs, the affair seems destined to be limited to sight. When a bookseller consults him about an old manuscript, Chester finds that Aline Chapdelaines is its owner. The fate of this manuscript and of Chesteris love for Aline is the theme of a most original romance, in this depiction of the old rEgime of New Orleans, written with the delicacy and beauty for which George W. Cable is known.

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