Under a Dark Summer Sky (29 page)

Storm of the Century: The Labor Day Hurricane of 1935
(Washington, DC: National Geographic, 2002) by Willie Drye is a meticulously researched description of the storm and the investigation that followed. The author concludes that the veterans were failed by every level of government with responsibility for their well-being. Even if you do not agree with the author's conclusion, his book is a factual account that reads like a thriller.

For a firsthand narrative of what it was like to live in the isolated, rural Keys of the 1930s, you can read hurricane survivor Charlotte Arpin Niedhauk's
Charlotte's Story: A Florida Keys Diary
(Sugarloaf Key, FL: Laurel & Herbert Inc., 1973), which depicts every aspect of life during an extraordinary year.

And for a study of violence in the period, read Walter Howard's
Lynchings: Extralegal Violence in Florida in the 1930s
(Authors Choice Press, 2005).

Finally, everyone interested in this period of Southern history must read Zora Neal Hurston's
Their Eyes Were Watching God
(New York: Harper Perennial Classics, 2006), which includes a stunning depiction of what it feels like to experience a hurricane.

My husband, James, for reading endless drafts, commiserating through the bad times, sharing in the joy of the good times, for being steadfast in his support and encouragement, even when I had given up hope; my agents, Tina Betts and Mitchell Waters, for their sage advice on everything from characters to publisher politics; Louisa Pritchard, queen of foreign rights; Kate Mills at Orion and Shana Drehs at Sourcebooks and their lovely teams, for steering me through my first author experience with patience and understanding; the survivors of the Labor Day hurricane, for their courage and resilience; and everyone who pays me the highest compliment there is, of reading the book. I thank you.

Photo by Imagine Studios

Vanessa Lafaye was born in Tallahassee, Florida, and raised in Tampa. After obtaining a zoology degree from Duke University, she left the United States in search of adventure and found it. She lived in Paris and Oxford before settling in Marlborough in southwest England with her husband, James, and three furry children. Find her on Twitter
@vanessalafaye
and online at
http://vanessalafaye.wordpress.com
.

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