[close] LALITA TADEMY is a former vice-president of Sun Microsystems who left the corporate world to immerse herself in tracing her family's history and writing her first historical novel, CANE RIVER. Cane River is based on the lives of four generations of colored Creole slave women in Louisiana, women from whom she descended. Oprah Winfrey selected Cane River as her summer book group pick in 2001.

Lalita Tademy's second historical novel, RED RIVER also takes place in Louisiana, based on real events during Reconstruction after the Civil War, a time period and subject matter often summarily skimmed in our history books. The story of Red River begins in 1873, and follows the ramifications of an incident on Easter Sunday of that year on successive generations of two families involved.

Photograph courtesy of the author.
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