Diego deMelilla is content living on the island of Gran Canaria when the beautiful Doña Maria Artiles is swept into his life, changing everything. Don Alguazil Cabitos, Maria’s spurned fiancé 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 Isleños, and their struggle for survival into the deMelilla Chronicles. Stephen Estopinal grew up in the swamps and bayous of Southeast Louisiana. He is a graduate of Louisiana State University (class of 1968), a US Army veteran (combat engineers 1969-1971) and is a Land Surveyor and Civil Engineer living and practicing in the Baton Rouge area where he relocated after Hurricane Katrina destroyed his business in the New Orleans.   Mr. Estopinal was a living history volunteer at the Chalmette Battle Field National Park and a black powder expert. His enjoyment of history, particularly the history of colonial Louisiana has resulted in a series of novels to bring that history to life. Drawing on family oral history of the Canary Islander settlers transported to Louisiana, his approach to the stories of New Orleans come from a Spanish point of view.   Mr. Estopinal's first books were published by John Wiley & Sons and were technical works. A Guide to Understanding Land Surveys , 3rd edition is required reading at LSU's engineering surveys course and Professional Surveyors and Real Property Descriptions also published by John Wiley has just been released.   Escape to New Orleans is the fourth novel of the deMelilla Chronicles . The first of the chronicles, El Tigre de Nueva Orleáns , the second, Incident at Blood River, Anna, the third, and Escape are all stories of 18th and 19th Century Canary Islander settlers in Louisiana and their struggle for survival. Writing historical fiction has provided Stephen Estopinal with an enjoyable hobby and a means of keeping the diverse history of colonial Louisiana alive.