Bayou Jesus

No Power on Earth Could Save Them from Their Sins

On a Sunday afternoon drive through Louisiana, Zassy, an elderly woman of color, tells the story of her son, the legendary Bayou Jesus, to a young white man. Born in an abandoned barn, Frank Potter touches the lives of all who encounter him. When he and young, unwed Zassy find haven at the rotting Boudreaux plantation, Bellwether, Frank's destiny becomes clear--a destiny that will forever change Bayou Teche. Wounded during WWI, Samson Boudreaux, a political hopeful and abusive bigot, returns to discover he's lost control of his family, and determines to make everyone around him pay for his pain. Born of a bitter union, Samson's daughter, Alice, befriends Frank, and Samson feels his ingrained beliefs slipping through his fingers. When Frank receives a stigmatic sign, news of his divinity spreads and enrages Samson. Forced to flee Bellwether, Frank begins a spiritual odyssey on the bayou. A life paralleling that of Jesus--skill with carpentry, accepting the outcast, healing the sick--he gathers followers and an imposing disciple along the way, unaware of forces gathering against him. And when Alice makes a decision that unwittingly seals Frank's fate, it will also condemn her own, and those of everyone she loves as well. Entrancing, altruistic and shocking, the Jesus of Miller's bayou is a gritty meditation on the changing times, and will haunt readers' memories long after others fade.