The Drumming is a memoir, written late in life by successful published author, Barbara Brouse (Taylor is her maiden name). It tells the story of a pivotal year in the author's life, at age six, in Patna, India, near the end of the period of British rule known as the Raj.
The story recounts the author's remarkable survival in spite of a violently abusive mother who, on more than one occasion brought her to the brink of death.
Barbara survived, largely because the Indian servants in her family's employ came to a small child's rescue, at considerable risk to themselves. For the servants it was a radical action that, for many among them, was to take a heavy toll.
The Drumming is the product of a journey of recovered memory that Barbara set out on in 1994, at age 62, and it was largely finished in 1997, 8 years before of her death in 2005. The remarkably rich detail with which the book captures the Indian backdrop to the story is owed in part to the detailed records kept by her father, a missionary doctor at the time, as well as to the specific coping skills developed by the author's six-year-old self, to deal with her untenable situation.
The Drumming, Barbara often said, was her life's work, the keeping of a promise she had made -- to herself, to God, to the servants who saved her -- when she was only 6 years old. It was a promise she had forgotten for many years, but it was ultimately remembered, and acted on before she died.
Barbara received support and encouragement for this project while she was alive.
She wanted this story to be read and shared by as many people as possible, and she created a literary estate to fulfill this goal on her death. Her daughters Susan and Gillian (who maintains this site) are her literary executors. Contact us via Gillian (at sign) brouse (dot) org.
Born in India under British rule, Barbara became a celebrated romance novelist. She discovered her life’s purpose in her final years: to tell the story of the Indian servants who saved her life. 
