It is 1971. The fictional city of Bellport, Massachusetts, is in
decline with an urban redevelopment project on the horizon expected to
transform this dying factory town into a thriving economic center. This
planned transformation has a profound effect on the residents who live
in Bellport as their own personal transformations take place. Sydney
Stallworth steps away from her fellowship and law studies at an elite
university to support husband Malachi’s dream of opening a business in
the heart of the black community of his hometown, Bellport.

For Omar Bassari, an immigrant from Senegal, Bellport is where he
will establish his drumming career and the launching pad from which he
will spread African culture across the world, while trying to hold onto
his marriage. Della Tolliver has built a fragile sanctuary in Bellport
for herself, boyfriend Kwamé Rodriguez, and daughter Jasmine, a troubled
child prone to nightmares and outbursts.

Tensions rise as the demolition date moves closer, plans for
gentrification are laid out, and the pace of suspicious fires picks up.
The residents find themselves at odds with a political system
manipulating their lives and question the future of their relationships.

The Talking Drum explores intra-racial, class, and
cross-cultural tensions, along with the meaning of community and
belonging. Examining the profound impact gentrification has on people in
many neighborhoods, and the way in which being uprooted affects the
fabric of their families, friendships, and emotional well-being, the
novel not only focuses on the immigrant experience, but the way in which
the immigrant/African American neighborhood interface leads to friction
and tension. This book thus provides a springboard to important
discssions on race and class differences, on the treatment of
immigrants, as well as the government’s relationship and responsibility
to society.