Memories, which this book is based upon, were written by Laura Locoul Gore and account of nearly 100 years of life on a Louisiana sugar plantation which is named after her - Laura Plantation.
Her manuscript, only recently discovered in St. Louis, Missouri, details the daily life and major events of the inhabitants, both free and enslaved, of the plantation that she and her female fore bearers ran. Laura's writings offer an insider's perspective into a Creole household, spanning four generations of love and greed, pride and betrayal, heroism and pettiness, violence and excess. And, her words are also an explanation to her children as to why she rejected the traditional confines of the Creole world to become a modern American of the 20th Century.
It also includes a photographic commentary on Laura's long life - 102 years.

Today, Laura Plantation is an historic cultural attraction open to the public, and Laura's "Memories" form the basis for the guided tours. Since I visited the plantation it may of been more interesting for me to read this book, but it pretty much does not matter.