From Cane River, Louisiana, home to Creoles of color whose roots go back almost three centuries, comes a book of personal stories and oral histories collected by native daughter Kathleen Balthazar (married name Heitzmann).

In a delightfully chatty style, elders of the tight-knit community reminisce about their childhoods, while cousins, aunts and uncles -- all known by nicknames -- share more recent stories where gossip, history and folklore intertwine.

Complete with authentic recipes of the famous Cane River creole meat pies and other specialties of the region, this book is educational, inspirational and just plain fun!

ISBN 978-0-9616377-9-8; trade paperback , 272 pp.

Kathleen Balthazar Heitzmann received her BS degree in Biology and MS degree in Science Education at The University at Albany, State University of New York. She is presently on the faculty at Coxsackie-Athens Central School District in upstate New York teaching mathematics and is an adjunct faculty member in the Biology Department at The State University of New York. She was formerly a Radiologic Technologist. She is the daughter of Cassie Marie Balthazar and Frank Duarte Pimentel and the granddaughter of Essie Delphin and Johnny Balthazar. Her ancestors have lived on Cane River since the arrival of CoinCoin and Claude Thomas Pierre Metoyer in the 1700s.