Dale Marie Taylor has written three historical fiction novels — A Home for Easter, Hester’s Journey and Carrie’s Song. A Home for Easter and Hester’s Journey are part of the Apple Hill Series. A Home for Easter features Easter, an 1830s Cherokee woman who finds herself searching for a new home during the “Indian Removal” period of the United States. The time is fraught with war, thwarted negotiations and the ultimate removal of many First Nations people to reservations in Oklahoma and elsewhere in the United States. However, Easter is pregnant when the story opens and finds herself unwilling to march on what is now considered the Trail of Tears. Many first nations people died on this trek to reservations, some of them traveling in the dead of winter. Easter finds a place for herself in Middle Tennessee. But claiming it means becoming part of the African American community of Apple Hill. Easter’s is a story of courage and determination in challenging times. Find the book at Amazon.com and several other ebook outlets.

Hester’s Journey is the second in the Apple Hill series and features Easter’s daughter, Hester, who wants to help her uncle Wahali during the carnage of the Battle of Gettysburg. She is determined to put to use the healing arts that she has learned from her mother, Easter. But by leaving home she must make a choice. Will she marry Austin, who is himself a formidable fighter during the Civil War? Or will she move to New York and become a nurse in her uncle’s medical practice? Hester’s Journey is full of of adventure for not only Hester, but her Aunt Awinta, who played a pivitol role in A Home for Easter. The story explains how North America became what it is today. Find the book at Amazon.com and several ebook outlets.

Carrie’s Song features a 19-year-old woman African-American woman who is torn between her desire to graduate from Fisk University in the late 1890s and her wish to be of service in the Women’s Suffrage Movement. Add to that her passionate attachment to Edward, and one can see why Carrie’s life is full of choices. She is an accomplished pianist and is keen to develop her skills in an ever changing musical landscape. She finds Edward intriguing because of his skill as a violinist and his equally astute appreciation and study of music. The two live in the post reconstruction era of the United States, when the lynching of Blacks was an ever-present fear. Carrie serves her community by teaching, but also by playing the piano. When Edward is called away for the Spanish American War, Carrie finds herself at an emotional crossroads. The book can be found at Amazon.com and several e-book outlets.

Dale Marie Taylor has written eight novels and novellas. She holds a doctoral degree in literary studies and masters degrees in journalism and English literature. She wrote for Texas daily newspapers for several years before teaching composition and literature at a Texas college. She and her husband enjoy hiking and gardening. They have one adult son and make their home in the East Coast area of the United States.