One of the advantages of living in so many different places is the opportunity to investigate new cultures.  Every region, every city, even the most seemingly ordinary small town, has its own, but some are more unusual and more instantly captivating than others.

So it was with my six year sojourn in Louisiana.  The City that Care Forgot is filled with so much life and color.  I spent my early years there drinking it in and reading about Louisiana’s fascinating history. 

One of the first books I devoured was Bayous of Louisiana, a colorful travelogue by a man named Harnett Kane.   One tale in particular captivated me.  In 1893 a terrifying hurricane devastated bayou country, but nowhere worse than on a peninsula–or chénière–near Grand Isle.  Throughout the storm a bell, said to be minted from pirate doubloons, rang from the small Catholic church that was the chénière’s pride and joy.  Mr.  Kane brought this true story alive for me, and a trip to Grand Isle and a peek at the bell set my imagination whirling.  Eventually the two books that were to become Iron Lace and Rising Tides emerged.

Several years after I first read Harnett Kane’s wonderful book, my husband, a minister, received a telephone call from Mr. Kane’s sister.  Harnett had just died, and she wondered if Michael would be willing to do his memorial service. Michael considered it an honor.