Alligator Bayou

Tallulah, Louisiana, 1899: Fourteen-year-old Calogero is a recent emigrant from Sicily. He lives with his uncles and cousin, who are greengrocers and the only Sicilians in town. The white townspeople resent Calo and his family for their business success and for the fact that they treat customers equally, whether they're black or white. Through a series of misunderstandings, the Sicilians anger their white neighbors, and resentment soon turns into devastating violence. Based on actual events. Letter to the reader. Afterword. Notes on research.