Diego deMelilla is content living on the island of Gran Canaria when the beautiful Dona Maria Artiles is swept into his life, changing everything. Don Alguazil Cabitos, Maria's spurned fiance has vowed to take her back. Maria finds refuge with Diego and more than a simple sanctuary. Thwarted for years, Cabitos is finally able to renew his pursuit and sends his killers for them both, but Spain is recruiting settlers for the new world providing Diego and Maria a way off of the island. They sign aboard a ship bound for New Orleans in hopes of escaping Cabitos. Their escape is incomplete as the relentless Cabitos, intent upon revenge, follows them to New Orleans. Author Stephen Estopinal grew up in the swamps and bayous of southeast Louisiana, an area heavily settled by Canary Islanders in 1778. Calling upon family oral history and extensive research, Estopinal has woven the experiences of the Canary Islanders, the Islenos, and their struggle for survival into the deMelilla Chronicles."