About This Book
Netti, A teenager from a small mining town, is impregnated by her father, Buck Joe. She tells her mother that she is going to have a baby, and that the father is Buck. The mother has always denied stories that Netti told her about Buck molesting her. The Mother takes her to an illegal abortionist, even though she wants to keep the child. Buck beats Netti when they return, and throws her, tied in a gunny sack, to the alligators at the end of the pier.
The doctor tosses the live embryo into Chalk River where it is carried to Breton Swamp. It is swallowed whole by a snapping turtle and attaches itself to its intestines. It is laid with a clutch of eggs on the bank and rolls off into water, swimming like a baby turtle, further into the swamp.
Brother Brown, kind, sole-survivor of the swamp, rescues Netti and brings her to live with him in his sinking shack. While she is there, she saves the pink turtle-like creature out of the water and raises it. It is a female. Netti calls her Tortue, which is the French word for turtle.
Armand, a reporter, comes to the shack for a story and decides to rescue them all from their poor and dangerous dwelling. A cypress crushes the shack, sending it downward into the dark mire. Brother Brown dies, and Armand takes Netti and the creature, Tortue, away in his boat, during a hurricane-force storm. Jealous Tortue has a surprise for Netti's gentleman friend. Three of them vie for survival, but only two remain after the storm.
