Dale Marie Taylor writes historical fiction and romance. Her books are available as ebooks, print (Amazon and Ingram) and audio (GooglePlay Books).
For a more detailed description of Dale Marie’s work, see https://daletaylorbooks.com
Award Winning Carrie’s Song
Carrie marches for women’s suffrage, against the lynching of Blacks and for the rights of the poor. She’s a foot soldier in the fight for freedom.
The Music They Made
Edward finds himself sinking to the bottom of the Cuban Bay following the explosion of the USS Maine as this story opens. He and Carrie have dreams. But amnesia complicates his struggles to get back to Carrie.
Dale Marie discusses her books in the Apple Hill series
Dale Marie Taylor has written five historical fiction novels — A Home for Easter, Hester’s Journey , For the Love of Minnie (Apple Hill Series) and Carrie’s Song and The Music They Made (Flight of the Heart Series).
Carrie’s Song,finalist in African American fiction for the Next Generation Indie Book Awards, features a 19-year-old 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.
The Music They Made begins with a bang as Edward, Carrie’s fiance, finds himself sinking to the bottom of the Cuban Bay. Inspired by the true lives of Edward and Carrie Crawford Smith, The Music They Made is a richly woven historical novel of love, loss, and perseverance during one of the most turbulent periods in American history.
Edward leaves Nashville in 1898 to serve during the Spanish-American War and disappears into a dangerous world of shifting loyalties, forgotten memories, and far-off conflicts. As Carrie waits, the life they planned slips further from reach — until fate offers them a second chance.
Drawn into the Great Migration, Edward and Carrie journey north to Chicago, where African American families seek safety from Southern violence and Jim Crow oppression. In a growing Black community alive with culture, music, and hope, they build a family, face personal tragedy, and confront the harsh realities of racial injustice, labor struggles, and economic hardship.
Through war, migration, and social change, Carrie becomes a tireless advocate for fair employment and education, while Edward’s violin and Carrie’s piano remain the quiet heartbeat of their home.
The Music They Made is a moving portrait of two imperfect people who, despite separation and sorrow, never fully let go of the bond that first brought them together — and whose legacy is written not only in history, but in the lives they shaped.
A Home for Easter, Hester’s Journey and For the Love of Minnieare 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. Find the book at Amazon.com and several other ebook outlets. Follow Easter, a resilient Cherokee woman, as she embarks on a journey through middle Tennessee in search of a new home for herself and her unborn child. But her quest is fraught with peril as she finds herself pursued by a ruthless criminal intent on claiming her ancestral lands. Dale Marie Taylor writes an engaging tale of a woman’s resilience and determination.
Joined by her steadfast companion, Arter, Easter braves treacherous snowstorms and confronts the dangers of being kidnapped by her relentless pursuer. Meanwhile, her older brother, Degataga, makes sacrifices to hold onto their family's Georgia lands, while her sister, Lucinda, forges a new life in the Qualla territory of North Carolina (Eastern Band of Cherokee) alongside Walking Bird. Easter’s younger brother, Wahali, marches with those thousands who suffered the Trail of Tears — west to what would become Oklahoma.
Central to Easter's story is her half-sister, Awinta, whose experiences shed light on the intersectionality of First Nations African Americans within Cherokee society—some enslaved, others integrated into clans. As the narrative unfolds, it offers insight into how diverse groups navigated the challenges of political upheaval, social strife, and economic turmoil, ultimately surviving and even merging during times of adversity.
Hester’s Journey is the second in the Apple Hill series and features Easter’s daughter, Hester. Hester’s Journey is a 2026 Eric Hoffer Book Award Category Finalist. Hester’s Journey features Hester Beasley traveling through dangerous Confederate territory and Pennsylvania Amish communities from the multiracial community of Apple Hill, Tennessee during the United States’ Civil War era. Her Uncle Wahali invites her to join him at Gettysburg to help with tending the war wounded. Little do they know that the Battle of Gettysburg will become one of the fiercest and bloodiest battles of the U.S. Civil War. Hester’s love, Austin, fights to help African Americans victimized by the Confederates and joins her.
Hester’s Journey has been reviewed by U.S. Review of Books —
“This is historical fiction at its best, suffused with romance, drama, and a fair amount of action. The presence of tenacious characters such as Hester, Easter, and Awinta is just one winning aspect of a solid and dynamic narrative that is as much about characters finding their own path as it is about the war that revolves around them. The depiction of the near primitive medical conditions is both realistic and ghastly. The excellent multi-perspective narrative takes the plot through different areas of the country, where a pitched battle is being waged or where the next battle remains to be fought. This is a memorable tale about a family choosing different directions to satisfy their destinies.”
Read the full review here.
For the Love of Minnie — Book 3 Apple Hill Series — historical fiction
For the Love of Minnie placed as finalist in the Georgia Independent Author Association book awards. Set against the sweeping hardships of the early 1900s, For the Love of Minnie tells the powerful and tender story of a resilient woman determined to rise above tragedy. Minnie grows up near Pulaski, Tennessee, where she helps her father with both the family fields and the business affairs, all while becoming known for her remarkable cooking and devotion to her children.
After suffering a devastating assault at a young age, Minnie refuses to let her past define her future. She endures the oppression of Jim Crow while in an interracial relationship with the father of her young children. Struggling with social judgment and her deep desire for legitimacy, Minnie later agrees to marry a man of African descent, though their union is never legally sealed.
The novel opens amid the terror and destruction of the 1900 Galveston hurricane and unfolds between Galveston, Texas, and Apple Hill, Tennessee, weaving together a moving portrait of love, endurance, heartbreak, and quiet strength.
Dale Marie Taylor has written ten 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 on the East Coast of the United States.
A Home For Easter features a Cherokee woman who is searching for a new home as the Indian Removal Policy begins in the 1830s. Her ancestral lands have been taken, and she is desperate to find a home. This is book one in the Apple Hill series.
Easter’s daughter, Hester, serves in the U.S. Civil War as a healer. She encounters other noted healers of the Civil War era while her aunt Awinta dresses as a man to fight in the civil war. This is book two in the Apple Hill series.
Minnie is torn between her love for James, a white man, and her need for respectability. She lives with hope during the Gilded Age (1870s-1890s) and the Progressive era (1890s-1910s). However, she and James as well as henry, the mixed race man with whom she forms an attachment, must navigate the dangerous Jim Crow society of Tennessee.
Stand by Me is Dale Marie Taylor’s memoir about her experience as a service dog handler. The story features Gunter, the German Shepherd who helps her navigate life.
Dale Marie Taylor with husband, Heber and service dog, Gunter
