Coming Soon from Legacy Book Press!

CAMANCHE, IA--FEBRUARY 28, 2023--Legacy Books Press LLC is proud to announce our latest personal story, My Family: A Window into the Secrets, Successes, and Sins of Early New Orleans and Beyond by Michelle Freret Prather. My Family is a collection of complex life stories that interweave and meander through the ever-changing world of eighteenth and nineteenth-century Louisiana. The accounts are populated by real people, some famous and some unsung, whose lives are rife with contradictions. Meet free men and women of color, war heroes, a world-renowned scientist and Egyptologist, an internationally famous artist, a universal suffrage activist, an explorer turned spy, philanthropists, entrepreneurs, sugar barons, cotton factors, and slave traders. The intricate tapestry of early Louisiana is revealed as their lives unfold. As we grow and evolve as humans, it is natural that our sense of justice is offended by practices of the past like slavery, the lack of agency for women, slave-holding free people of color, and shifting loyalties. The stories of the Rillieux, Cantrelle, Verret, Jones, Bringier, and Freret families expose a past infused with honor and regret.

Prather talks about her inspiration behind the making of My Family and all of its fine intricacies involving history. "I decided to shake my family tree to discover the nuanced history of Louisiana beyond the events and heroes of its tangled past. As an eighth-generation New Orleanian, I wanted to know how my ancestors navigated the complicated story of one of our nation’s most enigmatic states. I wondered how time, place, and circumstances affected their lives and the choices they made. Uncovering the stories of my family gave me a framework to better understand how my own life and choices are shaped by those same factors. Our human story is not singular and finite, but rather an intricate, expanding mosaic. My hope is that others will explore their rich family histories and realize that the story of each life gives us a new perspective on the past as well as on our own time."

Legacy Book Press LLC, founded in 2020 and based in Iowa, seeks to publish personal stories told via non-fiction, autobiographical fiction, poetry, or a combination of the same.