Basajaun by Rosemary Van Deuren
Basajaun (pronounced “Bah-sah-jahn”--last part rhymes with “shawn”) is a bunny, he’s also Cora’s best friend. Cora’s a young girl being raised in 1906 by her father after her mother died of consumption years before Cora can remember. Their small town is being overrun by rabbits and a town meeting is called to find a resolution. When Wayne--Cora’s father--prepares a speech for his non-lethal proposal, he doesn’t expect to be brushed aside so easily. Unknown to him, the town’s called in a Pastor from Australia with a desire to get rid of the rabbits that crosses into an obsession.
Proselytizing the moral dangers the rabbits represent, he drags a young pregnant teenager with him wherever he goes, as proof positive that sin has heavy consequences. Connecting her out-of-wedlock pregnancy to a rabbit infestation by a thin, religiously-fueled thread, the Pastor’s solution is to kill the rabbits--all of them. What follows is an adventure of mystery, magic, adolescence, and romance. Cora must figure out how to save Basajaun’s friends, reveal the Pastor’s true evil, and help Nellie escape his prison home.
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