Sojourner's Dream Book Review by Idrissa Uqdah

Sojourner's Dream was recently reviewed by Idrissa Uqdah. Check out the book review at http://www.aalbc.com/reviews/sojourners_dream.htm

Sojourner Brown, a shy graduate student, meets and falls in love with Joseph Kalisa. Joseph is a debonair corporate lawyer who works for a large and prestigious law firm in Washington, D.C. A sweet romance slowly blooms. However, Sojourner and Joseph must confront their past before they can look forward to their future. Sojourner must also develop the strength she'll need to be Joseph's wife, as Joseph is forced to face rivers of blood and hills covered with the corpses of the innocent in his native land of Rwanda.

Sojourner's Dream was published by Bandon Press in 2006. Cover design was created by Deborah Hopping and cover illustration by Lashaun Beal and Interior design by Lisa Jeter.

For further information about Sojourner’s Dream: A Novel, please visit http://sojournersdreamanovel.blogspot.com

Sojourner’s Dream is now Available at A Good Bookstore & Gift Shop

A Good Bookstore & Gift Shop

http://www.agoodbook.biz/

To contact the author:

Angeline Bandon-Bibum
P.O. Box 10310

Silver Spring, MD 20914-0310
angelinebandonbibum@yahoo.com
301-275-5908

Blood for the People, Excerpt from Sojourner’s Dream

Blood for the People, Excerpt from Sojourner’s Dream
By Angeline Bandon-Bibum

Blood For the People

Rwanda, 1959

Felix remembered the schoolmaster, a tall, thin, good-looking man in his thirties, who was always neatly dressed in a gray suit and white shirt. The suit was always clean and neat. The schoolmaster’s wife was a silent young woman with a svelte figure, always prettily dressed, thought Felix. He had heard that she was one of the King’s daughter’s, but Rwanda had no king anymore. Felix’s sons, Alphonso and Charles, attended this school, but today, they would be spared the fate of their classmates. Felix’s comrades said that they were doing their part for the “Hutu Revolution,” and Felix was called upon to participate in the bloody activities.
A schoolhouse surrounded by palm trees was set on fire. The palm trees, luscious in their greenness, were also ablaze in an orange and yellow conflagration. Screaming young students could be heard in the area surrounding the compound school. When the fire was initially set, the schoolmaster had attempted to guide his students out of the building. However, he and his students were beaten by the crowd and forced back into the schoolhouse. Screams of agony could be heard from within the building. The schoolmaster was inside with his students, burning alive.
As flames consumed the building, Felix thought to himself. His father and grandfather had worked for an influential Tutsi family. It seemed to Felix that the Muzungu preferred Tutsi because of their long noses and narrow faces. Many marveled at the distinct height that some of the Tutsi reached. No one can deny the beauty and grace of many of their women. Felix remembered that he had fallen in love with a Tutsi girl, who refused to acknowledge his existence. The young woman was a bronze dream, tall, slim, and graceful. She wasn’t a member of a royal family, but she sure behaved as though she were. They all think they’re royal, Felix thought. The Hutus can be like royalty, too. Hutus are not just servants and lackeys for Tutsis and Muzungu.
Standing with a group of men who stood around the burning school, Felix saw two adolescent boys run out of the school; their clothes aflame, both screaming wildly. A man next Felix laughed at the boys as the fire consumed them. Felix swallowed hard. He suppressed his first instinct, to assist the unfortunate boys. Struggling to mask his sympathy for them, he bit his bottom lip. His own little sons were standing next to him. The boys looked shocked. Smoke rose from the burning school, rising into his nostrils. The best from the flames burned his face. He could do nothing about it. His comrades would call him a traitor if he showed mercy. The mob around him was chanting at the burning the school.
Felix had plans to rise up through the ranks of this murderous rabble and become the town burgomaster. Felix believed that he had to play the part of the revolutionary to attain that goal.

Copyright © 2005 by Angeline Bandon-Bibum

News Flash: Sojourner’s Dream

Sojourner’s Dream
Author:Angeline Bandon-Bibum
Type:Fiction
Category:Romance
Publisher:Bandon Press
Copyright: 2006

Paperback: 222 pages
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0977758605
ISBN-13: 978-0977758609

Sojourner Brown, a shy graduate student, meets and falls in love with Joseph Kalisa. Joseph is a debonair corporate lawyer who works for a large and prestigious law firm in Washington, D.C. A sweet romance slowly blooms. However, Sojourner and Joseph must confront their past before they can look forward to their future. Sojourner must also develop the strength she'll need to be Joseph's wife, as Joseph is forced to face rivers of blood and hills covered with the corpses of the innocent in his native land of Rwanda.

Sojourner's Dream was published by Bandon Press in 2006. Cover design was created by Deborah Hopping and cover illustration by Lashaun Beal and Interior design by Lisa Jeter.

Sojourner’s Dream is now available Barnes and Noble online.

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbninquiry.asp?ean=0977758605

For further information about Sojourner’s Dream: A Novel, please visit http://sojournersdreamanovel.blogspot.com/

To learn about the author, Ms. Angeline Bandon-Bibum, please visit her sites at
www.authorsden.com/msangelinebandonbibum
http://angelinebandonbibum.blogspot.com/

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Sojourner's Dream Review

Name: Sojourner’s Dream
Author:Angeline Bandon-Bibum
Type:Fiction
Category:Romance
Publisher:Bandon Press
Copyright: 2006

Paperback: 222 pages
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0977758605
ISBN-13: 978-0977758609

Sojourner’s Dream is an excellent romantic story of Sojourner Brown, a shy grad student, and Joseph Kalisa, a debonair DC lawyer. Sojourner's Dream was published by Bandon Press in 2006. I especially like the way Angeline Bandon-Bibum has included poetry in her first novel entitled: Sojourner’s Dream. My favorite poem that was published in her novel was “Watutsi Warriors of Yore”.

Watutsi Warriors of Yore is an outstanding poem that is full of vivid imagery and strength. It’s cultural aspects adds an extra flavor the poem and to her first novel “Sojourner’s Dream.”
Cover design was created by Deborah Hopping and cover illustration by Lashaun Beal and Interior design by Lisa Jeter. It consists of 222 pages.

Sojourner’s Dream is available at
- BarnesandNoble.com
- Amazon.com
- Herliterarydream.com
- Howard University Bookstore

Five Stars Rating
- Reviewed by Afrika Midnight Asha Abney
www.authorsden.com/afrikamaabney

Blood for the People, An Excerpt from Sojourner’s Dream

Blood for the People, An Excerpt from Sojourner's Dream
by Angeline Bandon-Bibum
“Maybe we should leave. My uncle has invited us to go to France with him,” said Mother.
“I am not leaving Rwanda. I am a Rwandan, and this is my country,” said Father.
“But they are going to kill us,” said Mother.
“Let’s persevere,” said Father. “More than half of the school is Hutu now, and the people are happy about that. They seem grateful for that change.”
“We should go to France,” said Mother. “ I don’t like the way they look at us.”
“Enough. I have been to France, and I do not wish to live there,” said Father.
“ I read it is beautiful,” said Mother.
“Beautiful? It is modern. The architecture is beautiful,” said the Father.
“ I lived there as a student. I didn’t like the way I felt there though, like I did not exist.
It is a place where a black man becomes invisible, or a charicature. No…Rwanda is beautiful, naturally beautiful. The hills, the greenness of everything.. I am home here.”
“I’m afraid,” said Mother. “Things are so different now. Most of the children in your school are Hutu now, and some of the neighbors here hate us.”
“ I know, but most of the parents are good people. I am teaching their children.Many have brought us gifts. One woman even said that she misses the Mwami,” said Father.
The Mother still looked worried, but she bowed to her husband, as a dutiful Tusti wife does.
The mother was teaching her son how to pray the rosary when he smelled the smoke. He knew that his mother could smell it, too, because she stood up and rushed to the front yard. He ran to her side, and they both stood in horror. The son of a Hutu plantation worker, same running up to their home.
“Madam!Madam! The school is burning! The Master is there!” shouted the child. He was a boy of six,two years older than her son.
His mother screamed and ran in the direction of the school.

Copyright © 2005 by Angeline Bandon-Bibum

Watutsi Warriors of Yore

Watutsi Warriors of Yore
by Angeline Bandon-Bibum

The Watutsi warrior stood, with a spear in his hand,
With the grace of a woman, but the strength of a man.
In ceremonial regalia, he dances.
With a smile on his face, he prances.
The Watutsi warrior is thin and tall,
From my imagination he will never fall
From his wooden pedestal.
He is more than a sculpture in a museum.
He represents an ancient black people,
Flesh, blood, and beauty.
To write this poem is my duty.

Copyright © 2005 by Angeline Bandon-Bibum