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A Cajun Dream by Cherie Claire

Cherie Claire is the multi-published author of several Louisiana historicals by Kensington. Her debut novel, "A Cajun Dream" (July 1999, Zebra Splendor), was called a "charming and heartwarming tale" by best-selling author Rexanne Becnel. Bookbug on the Web called it "an exciting and entertaining read."

Claire’s novella "The Letter" will be published in the November 1999 Zebra anthology, "Snow Angels." Next summer, she begins a Louisiana historical triology with "The Acadians."

Cherie Claire is the pseudonym of Cheré Dastugue Coen, an award-winning arts and entertainment journalist for The Advocate newspaper in Baton Rouge. A native of New Orleans, Cheré began her career in communications as press liaison for the Louisiana Pavilion at the 1984 World’s Fair. She has written for the Glendale News-Press in Southern California, Gambit Weekly in New Orleans, Where New Orleans and New Orleans City Business, among many other publications, including ghost writing several non-fiction books.

Cherie Claire is pleased to announce her debut novel, a Cajun-American love story titled “A Cajun Dream.” Set in the romantic Bayou Teche region of southwestern Louisiana, the story deals with the prejudices between cultures in post-statehood Louisiana and a bittersweet romance that develops between an American and an Acadian (Cajun).

Amanda Rose Richardson hoped for a little romance and got more than she bargained for when she crossed paths with the town’s rogue. She is saved from total disgrace by René Comeaux, her dark Acadian friend who has secretly been in love with the judge’s daughter. When Amanda enters his passionate “Cajun” world, her dormant French heritage comes alive, as does the wild fire René sparks in her heart.

“A Cajun Dream” is being published by Kensington in 1999 in honor of the tricentennial of Louisiana. The book will be available in June, just in time for “FrancoFete,” a statewide celebration of the founding of Louisiana by the French in 1699. “A Cajun Dream” also honors Congrés Mondial Acadian, the worldwide Acadian reunion in August where Acadians (Cajuns) of Canada and South Louisiana, separated by the English in 1755, will be reunited among the bayous.

In November, 1999, Cherie Claire adds to her Acadian repertoire “Snow Angels,” a Kensington historical anthology. In her novella, titled “The Letter,” readers will once again be transported to the backwoods of Louisiana and the fascinating people who settled among the state’s cypress and tupelo swamps and bayous.

“What a marvelous debut! Cherie Claire is sure to earn a bevy of fans with this charming and heartwarming tale.”
-Rexanne Becnel, best-selling historical author.