The Bluesiana Snake Festival: A Novel

"Probably many a road scholar would testify this place makes good leavin' and better comin' back to . . . Place puts a hold on your soul, man, these streets call you like an old song . . ."

So starts The Bluesiana Snake Festival as Hidden Dave Crossway, a New Orleans street sweeper, celebrates the city in its pre–Katrina skin. With the night of the "snake moon" as the backdrop, we experience the lives, languages, and rhythms of the French Quarter, an unexpected urban idyll.

Through a blend of...