Introducing: The Cages of Marionneaux, a novel by Joseph Crisalli

Dove Ji is alone.

Estranged from her father and half-sister, Dove's only source of comfort is her adopted mother, Rosa. When Rosa dies, Dove is forced to leave New Orleans and return to Marionneaux, Louisiana--the town that Dove has avoided since the murders of both her natural mother and grandmother.

Wasn't Dove thrilled when Amadeo Iantosca, her handsome boss at the Musée D'Orleans offered to accompany her on her daunting journey? Wasn't Amadeo eager to offer a shoulder and a hand? Wasn't Dove about to be caught in an inhuman trap?

In Marionneaux, Dove reunites with her half-sister, Shelby, and Shelby's fiancé, the abusive Averill Cage. As Dove finds herself entangled in the powerful Cage family's deadly, demented games, she realizes that the key to her salvation lies in the words of a long-dead woman--Columbia Navarre.

Columbia Navarre is alone.

1853 found the Navarre family fleeing the Marionneaux plantation of Manuel Fontanals. As they headed toward freedom in New Orleans, they found themselves gripped in the cruel, boiling fist of the Yellow Fever. The Yellow Jack didn’t care for their freedom and by year's end, Columbia and her grandmother, Marjani, were all that remained of their family.

Marjani and Columbia celebrated their survival by dedicating themselves to nursing those poor souls that had been stricken with the terrible plague. However, in 1873, when Marjani succumbs to the fever, Columbia finds herself on an unexpected quest for truth which leads her back to Marionneaux. There, fair-skinned Columbia discovers that the townspeople don't realize she's black. When wealthy Edolie Cage takes Columbia for a white girl, Columbia feels she must tell the truth.

But, the Cages don't care much for truth--a trait Columbia notices in the fox-like Orman Cage who desperately wants a new wife to help him raise his infant daughter. Columbia takes comfort in her African friends who introduce the staunch Catholic to a world of Voodoo. As Columbia becomes torn between the gris-gris and the Lord Jesus, she finds herself caught in the middle of Orman Cage's murderous war of lust and greed.

Guided by a prostitute known as "The Elegant Ogress," Columbia realizes that she must not only save herself but also pave a path toward freedom for the other young women that would become ensnared by the Cages of Marionneaux.

An epic work of literary fiction, The Cages of Marionneaux is a split-narrative spanning the late nineteenth to early twenty-first centuries. The novel studies the effect that one man's misguided actions can have over an entire population.

Those of you who have read The Garnet Red are already familiar with Dove, Rosa and Shelby. The Cages of Marionneaux picks up with Dove’s story when she becomes an adult. If you’ve been reading Punch’s Cousin here at Stalking the Belle Époque, you’ve been introduced to Marjani, "The Elegant Ogress," The Cages, and the Rittenhouse family. Columbia’s portion of The Cages of Marionneaux concerns these very same characters—twenty years after your 1853 introduction to them. All three works are intertwined, but each stands as an individual story.

The Cages of Marionneaux will be available for purchase this winter. In the meantime, I’m pleased to offer you an advanced peek at two samples from the novel. The first is the beginning of Dove’s story. The second is our introduction to Columbia Navarre in New Orleans, 1873. Enjoy!