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About the Author:
I live blocks from Lake Winnebago. Each day I cross the Fox River, and on most days I think little of it. But there are days when I look on that river and think of all the events that have happened along its route. I have tried to appreciate that history. I have canoed sections of the Fox, and driven along its banks. I have followed the voyageur route from the Sault to Quebec and traveled from Green Bay to New Orleans by car and by boat. My wife and I have spent many happy days on Mackinac Island and in Door County. I have tried to learn the land.
This book represents one way to view the land and the French period. I have taken many liberties with the history of New Orleans, but there is a kernel of truth in my "history." First, much of the tragic history of the Huguenots is unfortunately true. The first two "diaries" I describe recount real events. Huguenots really were treated that way. And they really did leave France to any safe haven they could find. One primary haven was Germany. If you are ever in Berlin, a good tour guide can take you to some of the places east of the Brandenburg Gate that show their influence. After depopulating much of the country through the Thirty Year's War, Germany needed people, and they attracted tens of thousands of Huguenots with very attractive offers. Berlin was - for a time - more populated by Huguenots than by Germans.
As for New Orleans, that comes from a real incident. As an avid reader of American history, especially the trilogy Bernard DeVoto wrote, I was struck by the record of a shipload of Huguenots who attempted to land in New Orleans. The French governor refused them admission to the colony, so the ship sailed east and they landed in Virginia where they found a home. The governor was an idiot (in my humble opinion) since he was essentially governor of a failed settlement and could have well used the strength and industriousness of the Huguenots. But he prevailed, and France gave up one more chance to be successful in the New World.
This book, and this series, is based on the possibility he neglected. We might argue that thanks to his prejudices, the United States was able to acquire and develop the lands his religious intolerance made available to us.
What happens next in the series? There is more history to be gleaned along the banks of the Mississippi, additional chances to explore the French influences here, and yes, more chances to tell the story of Elise.
Here is how the next volume begins:
The Canadian Civil War
Volume 3 - West to the Wall