Corina's Way - A Novel / Rod Davis. (Hardcover)

At its simplest, Corina's Way is the story of a man adrift in life and a woman rooted in her faith. Their interaction in the spirit world of New Orleans interweaves religion, politics, race and fate. The strands come together when the Reverend Corina Youngblood, Christian minister and voodoo priestess, learns of a plan by her Cuban padrino, Elroy Delgado, to build a SuperBotanica, a "Wal-Mart of spiritual supplies, " that would threaten her own botanica and her church as well. In the battle, she has little; he has much. But she has faith and he has bad friends. To her aid, quite accidentally, comes Gus Houston, Acting Chaplain at a prominent girls' prep school in the Garden District. After meeting Corina, Gus begins to send his pupils to her for off-the-books therapy, on a kickback arrangement. The partnership evolves and Gus decides he can pull off a brilliant social coup by entering the all-white chorus from the girls' school in the city's annual Jazzfest. Everything done becomes undone. Only Corina prevails, although at a cost to her family. But she saves her church and her business, and even draws Gus closer to her faith. Her strength comes from Jesus and the santos of voodoo, as they have all her life, for such is her way.