Knee Deep — Karol Ann Hoeffner

Named after a hurricane, Camille is the rebellious 16-year-old daughter of a New Orleans bar-owner who grows up in the shadow of Bourbon Street, raised on stories of hauntings, lusty encounters, and voodoo magic. And even though her family loses their home in a hurricane, she counts herself among the lucky until she discovers that her 18-year-old Creole neighbor whom she secretly loves died heroically in the storm. Devastated by Antwone's death, Camille begins taking unnecessary risks as if to prove she can be safe in an unsafe world. Her downward spiral is stopped by a spirit intercession. Based on the strength of her love and with the help of a dead voodoo queen, Camille wills Antwone back to earth. Because she is the only one who can see him -- not his grandmother or his ex-girlfriend -- she takes a kind of ownership of him in death that she never had in life. But gradually, she seeks something in their union beyond sex or love or passion -- an understanding of the thin line between life and death itself and a need to find answers where none might lie. Camille's story unfolds as a Mardi Gras memoir, one girl's journey through the parties and parades as her community comes together and rises up from the chaos following the devastating storm.