Almost immediately following Hurricane Katrina, die-hard New Orleanians began trickling back into the city. They set up a modern-day frontier lifestyle in the wreckage of their historic homes, and slowly began to reassert the culture and passion of a beloved communityA travelogue through this surreal landscape, A Season of Night: New Orleans Life after Katrina, offers a deeply intimate, first hand account of that homecoming. Author Ian McNulty returned to live on the second floor of his wrecked house without electricity or neighbors. For months his sanity was writing this book on a laptop by candlelight.
Despite the conditions, McNulty and his resilient neighbors adapted and carried on business as usual. “We still woke up in the morning and looked for good chicory coffee, we still went to work, and we still hung out on our porches at sunset. We still mark our calendars for Mardi Gras.”
This memoir offers experiences that range from bittersweet camaraderie in the wreckage to depression and violent rampages in the lawless night, and finally, the first golden flickers of cultural revival and the explosive joy of the first post-Katrina Mardi Gras.
Ian McNulty will be reading and signing A Season of Night at Garden District Books at 5:30 tonight.
Further reading:
- Susan Larson of the Times Picayune weighs in
- Recommended reading by Gambit Weekly's Will Coviello
- For more information about the book, upcoming events, and excerpts visit www.seasonofnight.com
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