'When Mermaids Sing': Baby Boomers Come of Age with Conflicting Liberal Ideals, Bureaucracy, Family

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Mon Nov 9, 2009 7:45am EST

'When Mermaids Sing': Baby Boomers Come of Age with Conflicting Liberal
Ideals, Bureaucracy, Family


NEW YORK, Nov. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- 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.

    EDITORS: For review copies or interview requests, contact:

    Promotional Services Department
    Tel: 1-800-AUTHORS
    Fax: 812-355-4078
    Email: promotions@iuniverse.com
    (When requesting a review copy, please provide a street address.)


This release was issued through eReleases(TM).  For more information, visit
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SOURCE  iUniverse

Promotional Services Department of iUniverse, +1-800-AUTHORS, Fax:
+1-812-355-4078, promotions@iuniverse.com
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