The Book of Lost Friends(126)
To the many other kind folks who offered up their time and knowledge during my travels in Louisiana, thank you for generously sharing your home state. How could a wandering writer expect anything less from a place so well known for its hospitality? In particular, my gratitude goes out to the hosts, tour guides, and curators at Whitney Plantation and to the friendly staff at Cane River Creole National Historical Park. Thank you, park ranger Matt Housch, for taking me under wing, giving me a fantastic personalized tour, answering all of my questions, and even confirming the existence of hidden access hatches in the floor of the plantation house.
As always, I (and this story) owe so much to an incredible group of family, first readers, and old friends who helped to bring The Book of Lost Friends into being. To author pal Judy Christie, thank you for sitting on the porch swing with me during the initial “doodle” stages of this book, kicking around ideas, and then for generously reading draft after draft, adding not only your Louisiana expertise but needed doses of encouragement, love, and an occasional lunch of the intrepid Paul Christie’s chicken soup or chili. To my mother, Aunt Sandy, Duane Davis, Mary Davis, Allan Lazarus, Janice Rowley, and incredible author assistant Kim Floyd, thank you for being the best beta reading team ever, for helping to refine the story, and for cheering Hannie and Benny on to the finish line. Without you, I don’t know where they would be.
On the print and paper side of things, I can’t say thank you enough to my brilliant agent, Elisabeth Weed, who believed in this story from the first mention of the idea and encouraged me to write it. You are the best! To editor Susanna Porter, thank you for always being behind this book and for sifting through its many iterations. What book would be complete without the perfect publishing team? Thank you to Kara Welsh, Kim Hovey, Jennifer Hershey, Scott Shannon, Susan Corcoran, Melanie DeNardo, Rachel Parker, Debbie Aroff, Colleen Nuccio, and Emily Hartley for being the engine behind this book, for cheering each new publishing milestone with me, and for being just all-out fun people to work with. I can’t imagine more joyful journeys than the ones we’ve shared. I’m grateful also to the teams in production, marketing, publicity, and sales, and to Andrea Lau for the interior page design, as well as Scott Biel and Paolo Pepe for the book’s gorgeous cover concept. If not for you, these stories would never find their way to bookshelves, nightstands, and the hands of readers.
Speaking of readers, I’m eternally grateful to all the booksellers, librarians, and communities who have hosted book talks and signings, sent notes, recommended my books to readers, hosted book clubs, and welcomed me to your stores and hometowns. Lastly (but most important), a huge load of gratitude goes out to so many reader friends, whether around the corner or on the other side of the world. Thank you for giving my books such loving homes. Thank you for sharing them with friends and family, for handing them to strangers in airports and suggesting them to book clubs. You are the ones who turn story into community. And for that, I remain in your debt.
Today, tomorrow, and always.
—Lisa
Bibliography
WEB AND LIVE SOURCES
“Lost Friends Exhibition.” https://www.hnoc.org/database/lost-friends/. Historic New Orleans Collection. Web. 2019.
“Piecing Together Stories of Families Lost in Slavery.” https://www.npr.org/2012/07/16/156843097/piecing-together-stories-of-families-lost-in-slavery. National Public Radio. Web. July 16, 2012.
“Purchased Lives Panel Exhibition.” https://www.hnoc.org/exhibitions/purchased-lives-panel-exhibition. Historic New Orleans Collection. Web. n.d.
PRINT SOURCES
Federal Writers’ Project. North Carolina Slave Narratives: Slave Narratives from the Federal Writers’ Project, 1936–1938. Bedford, Mass.: Applewood Books, 2006.
Federal Writers’ Project. Texas Slave Narratives and Photographs: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States from Interviews with Former Slaves, Illustrated with Photographs. San Antonio: Historic Publishing, 2017.
Howell, Kenneth W. Still the Arena of Civil War: Violence and Turmoil in Reconstruction Texas, 1865–1874. Denton: University of North Texas Press, 2012.
Jacobs, Harriet. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl: Written by Herself. Edited by Marie Child. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2000. First published in 1861.
Katz, William Loren. The Black West: A Documentary and Pictorial History of the African American Role in the Westward Expansion of the United States. New York: Broadway, 2005.
Minges, Patrick, editor. Black Indian Slave Narratives. Real Voices, Real History. Winston-Salem, N.C.: Blair, 2004.
Mitchell, Joe, and Federal Writers’ Project. Former Female Slave Narratives & Interviews: From Ex-Slaves in the States of Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. San Antonio: Historic Publishing, 2017.
Northup, Solomon. Twelve Years a Slave. New York: Penguin, 2016. First published in 1853.
Smallwood, James M., Barry A. Crouch, and Larry Peacock. Murder and Mayhem: The War of Reconstruction in Texas. Sam Rayburn Series on Rural Life. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2003
Sullivan, Jerry M. Fort McKavett: A Texas Frontier Post. Learn About Texas. Austin: Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, 1993.
Washington, Booker T. Up from Slavery. Edited by William L. Andrews. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995. First published in 1901.
Williams, Heather Andrea. Help Me to Find My People: The African American Search for Family Lost in Slavery. The John Hope Franklin Series in African American History and Culture. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2012.