NEW YORK, Nov. 9, 2009 — In the early 1970s religious cults aggressively recruited baby boomers who were coming of age in a new era of experimentation and self-pursuit. Many parents, desperate when a child disappeared into a cult, resorted to hiring a “deprogrammer” who would, usually surreptitiously, “extract” the child from the cult and use techniques to convince him to return to the family.
In the novel “When Mermaids Sing” (published by iUniverse), Larry Brown, an English teacher at a junior high school in Medford, Mass., intervenes to aid his cousin and best friend Bradley Wright, who has joined a religious cult with an ashram on Cape Cod. Larry meets Jennifer Barrows, whose brother is also in the Path to God cult. Jennifer’s father hires Ted Patrick, a deprogrammer, who, with Larry’s help, kidnaps Bradley and Jenny’s brother. Brown is a cerebral and insecure junior high school teacher struggling with an unfaithful girlfriend and public school bureaucracy when he discovers his emotionally challenged cousin has joined the cult. During a suspenseful journey to rescue his cousin, Larry must come to terms with difficult observations about his cousin’s emotional state and revelations about their upbringing. A child of the 60s, Larry’s comfortable liberal principles are tested by the severity of the practices employed by the Path to God to retain its members, and his cherished memories of summers with his cousins at their family retreat on the Cape are shattered by the ordeal.
About the Author
Mark Zvonkovic earned a degree in literature and classical language at Boston University, and a law degree at Southern Methodist University School of Law. His family moved often, taking him to Central America, the Caribbean, New York, Connecticut, Texas and Virginia in his early years. After law school he has practiced corporate law in a firm for 30 years, in Houston, Texas, and in New York City. Married for 30 years with three grown daughters, he lives in New York. In addition to photography and sailing, he serves on several boards of nonprofits engaged in education and children’s activities. This is his first book. For more information, visit http://www.whenmermaidssing.com.
“When Mermaids Sing”
Available from: http://www.iUniverse.com, http://www.bn.com, and http://www.amazon.com
iUniverse offers a variety of publishing services to help individuals publish, market and sell fiction, poetry and nonfiction books. The company utilizes print-on-demand technology, and is one of the largest self-publishing companies in the U.S. iUniverse is based in Bloomington, Indiana.
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