Two popular books, It Had To Be You and Storm of the Century: The Labor Day Hurricane of 1935, are two new titles available for purchase at Keys History & Discovery Center. The books have been re-released after being out of publication for many years.

 Storm of the Century, first released in 2002, was updated to include comparisons to Hurricane Irma which made landfall in the Lower Keys in 2017. Author Willie Drye will be presenting on this topic the evening of Wednesday, Nov. 20, as part of Keys History & Discovery Center Presents lecture series. A book-signing will follow. Details can be found at www.keysdiscovery.com.

It Had To Be You is a look back to the late 1930s in an area of Key Largo once known as Planter. The book, originally printed in 1996, documents some of K Wilkinson’s fondest memories of simple years living by the water’s edge with her husband Jack. The Wilkinsons moved in the late 1930s, squatting along the Atlantic coast at Mile Marker 92.5 (in the general area of the present-day Harry Harris Park). Jack and K called a make-shift tent their home and lived largely off what the ocean could provide, which included furniture that would occasionally wash up.

In addition, It Had To Be You, the exhibit, is on display through late October. The Discovery Center is open Wednesdays through Sundays, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

The Joe and Lindy Roth Foundation donated the original manuscript to the Florida Keys History and Discovery Foundation, which operates the Discovery Center, in the hopes the Foundation could reprint the book. As was the wish of K and her family, a donation from the sale of each book goes to the American Cancer Society.

A reprinting of the book in 2012 was spearheaded by the Historical Preservation Society of the Upper Keys (HPSUK), an organization for which K Wilkinson once served as president. A special thanks goes to Loralea Carrera, HPSUK vice president, who provided Bertelli with a selection of photographs to include in the upcoming reprinting.