In the days before the Civil War, there lived a Louisiana people unique in Southern histroy. Though descended from African slaves, they were also descended from the French and Spanish who enslaved them. Called the Free People of Color, this dazzling historical novel chronicles the lives of four of them--men and women caught perilously between the worlds of master and slave, privilege and oppression, passion and pain.

In the days before the Civil War, there lived a Louisiana people unique in Southern histroy. Though descended from African slaves, they were also descended from the French and Spanish who enslaved them. Called the Free People of Color, this dazzling historical novel chronicles the lives of four of them--men and women caught perilously between the worlds of master and slave, privilege and oppression, passion and pain.

Novelist Anne Rice, best known as the creator of the vampire Lestat and his literary cohorts, was born Howard Allen O'Brien on October 4, 1941 in New Orleans, Louisiana. In 1959 Anne began classes at Texas Woman's College in Denton. She transferred to San Francisco State University, and earned her Bachelor's Degree in Political Science and Creative Writing in 1964. She pubhlished her first short story in 1965 called "October 4, 1948." She began grad school at San Francisco State in 1966, and began writing "Interview With the Vampire" in 1969. Anne earned her Master's in 1972. In 1973 Anne turned the "Interview With the Vampire" into a novel in a five week period. It was rejected when she submitted it, but in 1974, while attending a Writer's Conference in Squaw Valley, Anne met agent an agent, who agreed to represent her. "Interview" was subsequently sold to Vicky Wilson at Knopf. In 1976 "Interview With the Vampire" was published, the film rights sold to Paramount for $150,000.00, with a ten year option. Anne goes on to write various series in the same genre, such as the rest of the "Vampire Chronicles," the "Mayfair Witches" books and two series under pen names. In addition to her novels, Rice has written poetry and chaired the Creative Writing Department at San Francisco State University.