In the YA book Swamped!, which he co-authored with his niece Hillary, veteran Wall Street Journal writer Ken Wells and Pulitzer Prize finalist uses the vibrant Cajun culture as his canvas.
Swamped
In the fast-paced action-adventure story Swamped!, two teens who are vastly different from one another are brought together in dire circumstances. from Ken Wells, a renowned journalist and best-selling author, and Hillary Wells, his comedian and writer niece.
Jack Cane Landry, a Louisiana native and self-described “swamp rat” who has landed a job at a high-end swamp tour company and wants to quit school and become a full-time guide, is the first character introduced to readers. Olivia FitzGerald is committed to attending Harvard and adores her private New York City prep school. Destinies and cultures collide when Olivia and her philanthropist father fly in for a tour of Louisiana’s Great Atchafalaya Swamp. The two teenagers become equal partners in an epic survival tale.
Jack and Olivia are the only apparent survivors of the plane that crashes while transporting the group to their remote campsite. Olivia proves to be no damsel in distress, and Jack soon realizes that his swamp knowledge may not be sufficient to ensure their rescue. Additionally, she may have some survival strategies up her designer sleeves.
Swamped! follows Jack and Olivia as they confront the swamp’s inhabitants, including deadly reptiles, a snarling swamp cat, a gun-toting ne’er-do-well, and the weather that is determined to kill them. combines an unlikely love story with endless adventure.
Swamp Romp
Ken Wells describes the story as “a romp in the swamp, basically a gumbo western” in terms of style, but it has overarching themes about courage, resilience, resourcefulness, culture, and class. Swamped! is compared by one reviewer. to Hatchet, the standard for young adult survival novels that is also very popular with adults.
The Great Atchafalaya is the largest river swamp in the United States, covering 1.4 million acres. It is a scenic and ecological rival to Florida’s Everglades National Park, but the majority of Americans still don’t know much about it.
In Swamped!, The Wellses bring the terrifying Great Atchafalaya to life with their insider knowledge and sharp writing skills. They believe the book has the appeal of introducing a national audience to an ecosystem and culture (the Cajuns) that many may not have imagined existed.
Ken Wells And Hillary Wells
The second of six sons of an alligator-hunting father and a gumbo-cooking mother, Ken Wells grew up in the Louisiana swamps. He has written for The Wall Street Journal for a long time and has written five books about Cajun bayous, one of which is the coming-of-age classic Meely LaBauve. He splits his time between a log cabin in the wilds of Maine and Chicago.
Hillary Wells is a writer, comedian, and producer who rose from the bayous of South Louisiana to the comedy scene in Los Angeles. She is Ken Wells’s niece. She currently resides in New Orleans, where she works in the state’s burgeoning film industry in between comedy gigs and making gumbo. She has over 18,000 social media followers.
Find more now:
Visit www.bayoubro.com, or follow Hillary Wells on IG (hillarywells), Facebook (heymisswells), TikTok (@hillarywells_) or Twitter (@hillarywells_)