On April 16, 1947, a devastating series of explosions at the docks in Texas City, Texas, killed 576 people, injured more than 3,000, and almost destroyed the soul of an entire town.

RISE UP, a novel about this well-known disaster, epitomizes the courage, resilience and determination of

the ordinary people who lived there: Louis Broussard, who owns a ship supply business and struggles with the memory of his overbearing father. Clayton Malveaux, a young Black man who works on the docks and fights to give his young sister a better life. Grace Hanson, just released from prison in Chicago, who seeks refuge with her sister in Texas City. And Father Joseph Irons, who balances the everyday needs of his parishioners with those of the greater Catholic Church.

The worst man-made disaster in the history of the United States changed the entire town and is still

remembered today in annual memorial services. This fictionalized account deals with the individual pain and suffering experienced on that day, and how the residents slowly "rise up" to live again.