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When the Drum Major Died
December 28th, 1967. America has taken a respite from the heated protests and firebombing that engulfed the nation the previous summer. Martin Luther King, Jr. has begun laying out plans for his Poor People’s Campaign. Florina Gavin Austin, two days married, has moved across state to Poinsettia, North Carolina where she will begin a new life as Mrs. Redmond Austin. On approach to the house where she and her husband will live, Florina spies a woman sitting on the steps and smoking a cigarette. “You must be Redmond’s new wife,” the woman says. “All of Poinsettia’s been talking about you.” Failing to introduce herself, the woman stands, flicks cigarette buts behind the shrubbery, and proceeds into what will become Florina’s new home. The woman’s uncanny knowledge of the space that Florina will inhabit with her new husband leaves Florina feeling more than ill at ease. Following the benediction at Sunday services, Florina witnesses the woman she will come to know as Agnes, caress Redmond’s cheek. The look in Redmond’s eyes betrays longing. Agnes’ words to Redmond in a letter confirm Florina’s fears, “I will always love you.” They also force Florina to confront her own secrets--her first marriage, one that neither her parents nor Redmond know of. Florina and Agnes are neighbors. Their houses stand next to each other. Their husbands, Negro doctors in Poinsettia, hold prominent positions in the social and political life of their community. As their wives, Florina and Agnes occupy positions of similar regard. When Agnes flees to Memphis and joins the Sanitation Workers Protests, all are aghast, none more than Florina. Yet she holds empathy for Agnes, respects Agnes’ strength in standing up for what she and all Negroes across America believe and Civil Rights for their people in America. As they move towards the fateful day, April 4th, 1968, when a great statesman of America, perhaps the greatest ever, will be killed, Florina learns that marriage exposes the vulnerabilities of all who pledge their trough and body. It casts an even greater shadows upon the ones who vow love unto death, and do not deliver what they have promised. When the Drum Major Died shows what happens when we resist change in favor of worn out tradition, but also what can and does occur when we open our hearts and embrace the words, “ ... be first in love ... be first in generosity ... He who is greatest among you shall be your servant. ... ”
400 pages, Paperback
Published January 22, 2014
About the author
Anjuelle Floyd
6 books467 followersClick here, http://www.freado.com/users/settings/..., and read to the opening of Dancing Siva the first of 8 interconnected short stories comprising my linked novel, Keeper of Secrets…Translations of an Incident and and excerpt of my novel, The House.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
February 15, 2014
For many of us, people of color in particular, Viet Nam and the corresponding events of the American Civil Rights movement are a defining part of our personal history. For Florina Austin and the other characters of WHEN THE DRUM MAJOR DIED, these events set the tone for life in these United States.
A new marriage, a tarnished wedding, the secrets accommodated by longtime spouses lay the foundation for this ambitious story. Dealing with themes of racism, women’s rights, classism, and intraracial bigotry, Anjuelle Floyd still finds a way to tell a love story – albeit one bent by jealousy, infidelity, and lies – both personal and political.
WHEN THE DRUM MAJOR DIED is also the tale of love braced by a triangle that comes into existence when Florina marries Dr. Redmond Austin. Redmond is a man determined to be whole and he has found Florina to be the woman he would have and hold as his wife – after Agnes Elder, a woman of colorful passion and nearly colorless skin.
In the triangle of her love, Florina is left to reconcile the differences of her first husband, a man she never claimed before losing him to the war in Viet Nam and Redmond, her second husband, the man she fears losing to Agnes. With Agnes and the racial and social predilections of the sixties as galvanizing factors, Florina must learn to step and stand beyond her fears.
WHEN THE DRUM MAJOR DIED is no lazy flip-to-the-back-of-the-book tale. Though the story dances only intermittently on the world stage, the verifiable history is undeniable. The flash back to the old fashioned manners of the South in the sixties sets a tone that immediately requires the reader to respect the mores, decisions, and emotion of the story. Written with Ms. Floyd’s lyrical style, readers may not always agree with our heroine, but Florina Austin’s journey is one that readers with skin of any color will understand and walk with her.
A new marriage, a tarnished wedding, the secrets accommodated by longtime spouses lay the foundation for this ambitious story. Dealing with themes of racism, women’s rights, classism, and intraracial bigotry, Anjuelle Floyd still finds a way to tell a love story – albeit one bent by jealousy, infidelity, and lies – both personal and political.
WHEN THE DRUM MAJOR DIED is also the tale of love braced by a triangle that comes into existence when Florina marries Dr. Redmond Austin. Redmond is a man determined to be whole and he has found Florina to be the woman he would have and hold as his wife – after Agnes Elder, a woman of colorful passion and nearly colorless skin.
In the triangle of her love, Florina is left to reconcile the differences of her first husband, a man she never claimed before losing him to the war in Viet Nam and Redmond, her second husband, the man she fears losing to Agnes. With Agnes and the racial and social predilections of the sixties as galvanizing factors, Florina must learn to step and stand beyond her fears.
WHEN THE DRUM MAJOR DIED is no lazy flip-to-the-back-of-the-book tale. Though the story dances only intermittently on the world stage, the verifiable history is undeniable. The flash back to the old fashioned manners of the South in the sixties sets a tone that immediately requires the reader to respect the mores, decisions, and emotion of the story. Written with Ms. Floyd’s lyrical style, readers may not always agree with our heroine, but Florina Austin’s journey is one that readers with skin of any color will understand and walk with her.
August 1, 2014
Florina was previously and secretly married to a Vietnam soldier who died on the battlefield in 1966. She then remarried Redmond, a black surgeon, whom her parents approved of this union. However, it greatly bothered Florina for not telling anyone except her first husband's mother Melinda and unsure to share this previous marriage with her current husband Redmond. She meets an eccentric woman named Agnes once moving to Redmond's grandparents’ home. Shortly later, as the reader, I was able to see secrets between the married couple where they both had previous engagements such as Florina married to Ennis and Redmond dated Agnes. Yet I am waiting to see how the couple will either boldly tell one another about their past or previous relationships openly or keep each other guessing.
The only setback that I had with this novel (and previous work I've read by this author) is the redundancy of an important incident or episode of the character's inward secret kept being stated or re-said throughout the book. However Anjuelle Floyd taps into the inflection of the main character, intricately shares the psychological transitions of the character, and dysfunctional aspects of relationships when facing racism, prejudices, skin color complexities or inferior complexes, and other injustices.
Floyd also gently touched on the importance of education, its values and goals as a surgeon during the Civil Rights movement, and benefits of being the only Black surgeon in a small town of Poinsetta. Moreover, Redmond being a prominent figure in his community and well-educated didn’t have to marry someone of the same or similar status as others would expect like Agnes. Is education the ticket to a better life? The questions that kept being addressed or aforementioned in the novel, I was also waiting for the answer or some closure such as the significance of Redmond’s response to being with Agnes. Yet Agnes defined her meaning of the “love she had for him” and belief of “how he viewed her in reference to love” but was it enough for his wife, Florina.
Moreover, the novel itself took quite some time for me to complete and didn’t pick up for me until about 40% in the eBook version. But when it did, I couldn’t stop reading and desperately wanted questions unanswered to be answered. Although it had it slow pits because of character development and understanding the delicacy of the relationships between the characters, there were some valuable lessons taken from this read such as religious concepts, race during this era, Civil Rights Movement, and establishing relationships between married couples as well as others who play a part in making this union a success. How people married so quickly and loved so easily back then...I love a novel with historical aspects as well as relational bonds that can last a lifetime.
Love this line in the novel: “If only we could let go of each other and allow those whom we love be who they are, and we all become the people God wants u to be.”
Adrienna Turner
Dream4More Reviewer
www.dream4more.org
Sweet Dreams/Wooed Me Dream, 4.5 stars
Reviewed Kindle Version.
The only setback that I had with this novel (and previous work I've read by this author) is the redundancy of an important incident or episode of the character's inward secret kept being stated or re-said throughout the book. However Anjuelle Floyd taps into the inflection of the main character, intricately shares the psychological transitions of the character, and dysfunctional aspects of relationships when facing racism, prejudices, skin color complexities or inferior complexes, and other injustices.
Floyd also gently touched on the importance of education, its values and goals as a surgeon during the Civil Rights movement, and benefits of being the only Black surgeon in a small town of Poinsetta. Moreover, Redmond being a prominent figure in his community and well-educated didn’t have to marry someone of the same or similar status as others would expect like Agnes. Is education the ticket to a better life? The questions that kept being addressed or aforementioned in the novel, I was also waiting for the answer or some closure such as the significance of Redmond’s response to being with Agnes. Yet Agnes defined her meaning of the “love she had for him” and belief of “how he viewed her in reference to love” but was it enough for his wife, Florina.
Moreover, the novel itself took quite some time for me to complete and didn’t pick up for me until about 40% in the eBook version. But when it did, I couldn’t stop reading and desperately wanted questions unanswered to be answered. Although it had it slow pits because of character development and understanding the delicacy of the relationships between the characters, there were some valuable lessons taken from this read such as religious concepts, race during this era, Civil Rights Movement, and establishing relationships between married couples as well as others who play a part in making this union a success. How people married so quickly and loved so easily back then...I love a novel with historical aspects as well as relational bonds that can last a lifetime.
Love this line in the novel: “If only we could let go of each other and allow those whom we love be who they are, and we all become the people God wants u to be.”
Adrienna Turner
Dream4More Reviewer
www.dream4more.org
Sweet Dreams/Wooed Me Dream, 4.5 stars
Reviewed Kindle Version.
February 12, 2015
“Everything doesn’t begin and end with the color of a person’s skin,” says Florina’s father, the Major. But his wife has seen this prejudice work both ways, and it hurts, especially when it’s family laying down law. Now Florina has moved to her new husband’s hometown of Poinsettia. It’s a place where everyone but she knows everyone’s secrets. But nobody knows Florina’s hidden secret, that she’s been married before; and even Florina doesn’t know the secrets of her heart.
When the Drum Major Died is a novel of secrets and lies, prejudice and guilt, war and rebellion, color and clarity, riches and poverty, education, history, poetry and more. It covers a dangerous time in America’s recent past, and describes the turmoil of multiple characters, including Cherokee Negro, Jewish sympathizer, preacher, lovers, mourners, parents and children, and descendants of Negro slaves. Long languorous sentences evoke a slower time when life seemed unchanging and American prejudice wholly indestructible. Black America commits its youth to the betrayals of war, just as lonely women commit to the betrayals of marriage, and Martin Luther King speaks out. For herself, “Florina had read some of Dr. King’s articles expounding on white America’s love/hate relationship with him, and also of the ambivalence that middle class Negroes held towards his recent and unyielding stance against the war.” But Alice, who seems so deeply involved with Florina’s new husband, is the one planning to go on the march, while Florina plans a return to education and poetry, that which she creates from secrets “to her own fiction that fit the truthful lie of her life.”
The story reads slowly, covering its multiple issues with well-researched care. Some typos slow and confuse the reading, but it’s a fascinating tale, one where “[e]very situation consist[s] of at least two perspectives, most often created and furthered by two or more entities.” Human lives and loves intertwine with human war and history. But a thread of true love shines through all, blessed with mercy and forgiveness.
When the Drum Major died tells a story of a wounded world taking steps toward renewal, and of its wounded people taking strides. It’s a long, slow, languorous read filled with memorable characters and scenes, deep soul-searching questions, and a convincing reality.
Disclosure: I was given a free ecopy and I offer my honest review.
When the Drum Major Died is a novel of secrets and lies, prejudice and guilt, war and rebellion, color and clarity, riches and poverty, education, history, poetry and more. It covers a dangerous time in America’s recent past, and describes the turmoil of multiple characters, including Cherokee Negro, Jewish sympathizer, preacher, lovers, mourners, parents and children, and descendants of Negro slaves. Long languorous sentences evoke a slower time when life seemed unchanging and American prejudice wholly indestructible. Black America commits its youth to the betrayals of war, just as lonely women commit to the betrayals of marriage, and Martin Luther King speaks out. For herself, “Florina had read some of Dr. King’s articles expounding on white America’s love/hate relationship with him, and also of the ambivalence that middle class Negroes held towards his recent and unyielding stance against the war.” But Alice, who seems so deeply involved with Florina’s new husband, is the one planning to go on the march, while Florina plans a return to education and poetry, that which she creates from secrets “to her own fiction that fit the truthful lie of her life.”
The story reads slowly, covering its multiple issues with well-researched care. Some typos slow and confuse the reading, but it’s a fascinating tale, one where “[e]very situation consist[s] of at least two perspectives, most often created and furthered by two or more entities.” Human lives and loves intertwine with human war and history. But a thread of true love shines through all, blessed with mercy and forgiveness.
When the Drum Major died tells a story of a wounded world taking steps toward renewal, and of its wounded people taking strides. It’s a long, slow, languorous read filled with memorable characters and scenes, deep soul-searching questions, and a convincing reality.
Disclosure: I was given a free ecopy and I offer my honest review.
January 30, 2014
When the Drum Major Died by Anjuelle Floyd
Set in 1967 North Carolina when Martin Luther King was planning his Poor People March, young Florina Gavin Austin is newly married to Dr. Redmond Austin. She tries to adjust to her new home and life as a doctors wife. But she holds secrets and she is not ready to share. She meets her neighbor Agnes, a woman who also has secrets of her own, some involving Florina's husband. Will Florina be able to let go of her past, accept the present and move on to her future? What will happen when all the secrets are revealed?
A well written emotional read. I loved the story, it felt so real as if it really did happen. Filled with many secrets, twists and turns, I was hook from the first page. I was able to feel what each person was going through, almost as if I were there. I am a big fan of Anjuelle Floyd and When the Drum Major Died was as fantastic as I knew it would be. Next to read by Ms. Floyd will be Seasons in Purdah. I highly recommend to those who love women s fiction.
Set in 1967 North Carolina when Martin Luther King was planning his Poor People March, young Florina Gavin Austin is newly married to Dr. Redmond Austin. She tries to adjust to her new home and life as a doctors wife. But she holds secrets and she is not ready to share. She meets her neighbor Agnes, a woman who also has secrets of her own, some involving Florina's husband. Will Florina be able to let go of her past, accept the present and move on to her future? What will happen when all the secrets are revealed?
A well written emotional read. I loved the story, it felt so real as if it really did happen. Filled with many secrets, twists and turns, I was hook from the first page. I was able to feel what each person was going through, almost as if I were there. I am a big fan of Anjuelle Floyd and When the Drum Major Died was as fantastic as I knew it would be. Next to read by Ms. Floyd will be Seasons in Purdah. I highly recommend to those who love women s fiction.
August 6, 2016
"When the Drum Major Died" by Anjuelle Floyd is a beautiful and moving story set towards the end of the 1960s in the Southern US.
Our heroine Florina is recovering from the grief over her late (and secret) husband, who died in Vietnam. She gives up her studies, remarries and moves to Poinsettia, North Carolina, where she will be confronted with the fact that you cannot run from your past or your feelings.
The book is a wonderful and touching character study and a poignant historical portrayal of those days.
It still fascinates me that Martin Luther King and his movement happened as late as that; in years still so close to our own times. Spread throughout the book are several small and bigger interesting facts and data about the times. Floyd has captured the spirit of the 1960s in the Southern US and shows them through greatly chosen characters. The family and marriage dynamics and the relations to the neighbours are further strong points in this great novel.
Highly recommended.
Our heroine Florina is recovering from the grief over her late (and secret) husband, who died in Vietnam. She gives up her studies, remarries and moves to Poinsettia, North Carolina, where she will be confronted with the fact that you cannot run from your past or your feelings.
The book is a wonderful and touching character study and a poignant historical portrayal of those days.
It still fascinates me that Martin Luther King and his movement happened as late as that; in years still so close to our own times. Spread throughout the book are several small and bigger interesting facts and data about the times. Floyd has captured the spirit of the 1960s in the Southern US and shows them through greatly chosen characters. The family and marriage dynamics and the relations to the neighbours are further strong points in this great novel.
Highly recommended.
February 24, 2014
This story takes place in 1967, I was 13 at the time so I kinda kew what was going on but not fully.
I love history and this story is such a big part of our history that it needs to be told.
This was a wonderful book So full of emotion
Its a MUST read
I love history and this story is such a big part of our history that it needs to be told.
This was a wonderful book So full of emotion
Its a MUST read
February 7, 2014
Free Update Valuable Insights on Bridging Relationships and Mending All Wounds!
August 1, 2014
See full review on Dream4More Reviews page.
Adrienna Reads, 2014.
Adrienna Turner
Dream4More Reviewer
www.dream4more.org
Sweet Dreams/Wooed Me Dream, 4.5 stars
Adrienna Reads, 2014.
Adrienna Turner
Dream4More Reviewer
www.dream4more.org
Sweet Dreams/Wooed Me Dream, 4.5 stars
August 12, 2014
A fascinating story.
When I started reading this book, the first thoughts which came into my mind were that, it’s amazing how ignorant one can be, about events which happened in your own lifetime. Being a British child at the time these events were taking place, somehow they slipped into a hole between the history I was taught at school, from ancient up to and including WWII, and the recent history which I remember as an adult.
The main character in the story Florina, is a young colored woman who has married Dr Richmond Austin, and moved to his home town Poinsettia, in the South of America. Her new in-laws are very welcoming and her new home is to be his grandparent’s house. However, she very quickly discovers that her new neighbour Agnes, who is married to the other colored doctor in the town, Macon, used to go out with Richmond, and Florina fears that the attraction is still there. However, she has her own secret, one not even her parents know… A secret which lies buried in her heart and which she can only hint at in her very poignant poetry.
This incredibly absorbing story is set at a very turbulent time for the colored people of America. The Civil Rights movement was strong, and was led by the Baptist minister and activist Martin Luther King Jr., a man who worked tirelessly for, and who played such a strong part in the ending of the legal segregation of the African-American people.
Also all the time, in the background, and twisted inextricably throughout the plot of this story is the Vietnam War which was taking thousands of lives…
However, another element of this story, which was very interesting to me, is that I never realised that there was such color snobbery within the families of colored folk, causing so much tension, prejudices, terrible rifts, and great sadness. This was so evident in this book, where at one end of the spectrum there was immense color pride and at the other the seemingly desperate need to appear white.
This book is amazing, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. For me, it has all the essential ingredients for a good story excitement, intrigue, love triangles, lies, deceit, confessions, betrayal I could go on. However, more importantly for me, it gives a fascinating fly on the wall account of what it was really like as a colored person to live in those times, something I would never be able to experience otherwise.
When I started reading this book, the first thoughts which came into my mind were that, it’s amazing how ignorant one can be, about events which happened in your own lifetime. Being a British child at the time these events were taking place, somehow they slipped into a hole between the history I was taught at school, from ancient up to and including WWII, and the recent history which I remember as an adult.
The main character in the story Florina, is a young colored woman who has married Dr Richmond Austin, and moved to his home town Poinsettia, in the South of America. Her new in-laws are very welcoming and her new home is to be his grandparent’s house. However, she very quickly discovers that her new neighbour Agnes, who is married to the other colored doctor in the town, Macon, used to go out with Richmond, and Florina fears that the attraction is still there. However, she has her own secret, one not even her parents know… A secret which lies buried in her heart and which she can only hint at in her very poignant poetry.
This incredibly absorbing story is set at a very turbulent time for the colored people of America. The Civil Rights movement was strong, and was led by the Baptist minister and activist Martin Luther King Jr., a man who worked tirelessly for, and who played such a strong part in the ending of the legal segregation of the African-American people.
Also all the time, in the background, and twisted inextricably throughout the plot of this story is the Vietnam War which was taking thousands of lives…
However, another element of this story, which was very interesting to me, is that I never realised that there was such color snobbery within the families of colored folk, causing so much tension, prejudices, terrible rifts, and great sadness. This was so evident in this book, where at one end of the spectrum there was immense color pride and at the other the seemingly desperate need to appear white.
This book is amazing, I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. For me, it has all the essential ingredients for a good story excitement, intrigue, love triangles, lies, deceit, confessions, betrayal I could go on. However, more importantly for me, it gives a fascinating fly on the wall account of what it was really like as a colored person to live in those times, something I would never be able to experience otherwise.
February 22, 2015
Emotional, Fascinating, Compelling & Unforgettable! I Loved It!
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews