SWEEPING THROUGH THE CITY, BY EDNA BROWN MARK
Sweeping Through The City (ISBN# 1413729029 ) by Edna Brown Mark is a book that will definitely make you reflect on your own life. It's a mystery and page turner. You can't put the book down!
Knowledge is power, but sometimes (most of the time) power makes people forget the value of man's humanity to man. There are so many individuals in this world that are looking for a role model and the most powerful people set the wrong examples for their admirers to follow. We forget what is important and in our weakest moment, we fall short of the blessings we deserve. Sweeping Through The City, is a book that reminds us that no matter how much knowledge and education we have, or how rich we are, it's no good without love and compassion.
"Edna Brown Mark plunged into this task with a dedication she'd rarely experienced before, and after a while, she emerged with the manuscript for a novel-her first-which she titled Sweeping Through The City, after a verse in an old gospel song that her mother taught her and her sisters. Mark also poured some of her other childhood memories into the novel, which is set in and around the city of Burlington, during the months immediately after the terror attacks on September 11, 2001. There's a prominent role in this book, for example, for a small flock of cardinals, much like the ones that she and her sisters gazed at as children, only in this case, the birds have a bigger purpose than foraging for food or dodging stray cats. The cardinals serve as agents of God, and they carry out his will in subtle and mysterious ways. Much of her novel focuses on a lonely 60-year-old man named Jake Monroe, who shows up in Burlington after his retirement savings are wiped out by fraud. Although fairly educated, Jake has to settle for a menial cleaning job in the local post office. He takes no pleasure in his work, avoids socializing with his colleagues, and shuts himself inside an isolated, one-bedroom apartment when he has clocked out for the day." - Thomas Murawski, Alamance Staff Writer
"On the whole, Jake comes off as a bitter and spiteful old man. He has squandered away all the good things in life, failing to form any meaningful relationships with the people around him, and little by little, the reader finds out what choices have led him down such an unpleasant path. Jake starts to discover his mistakes when he stumbles across five cardinals, which have been roosting on a concrete ledge above the post office. These same birds make several appearances throughout Mark's novel, and each time they show up, they cause a profound change in somebody's life. There are also five busybodies in Burlington who are going to be touched by these birds. At the same time, the themes Mark describes in her book are as universal as the setting is local. Much of her novel deals with what the poet Robert Burns famously described as "man's inhumanity to man," and she highlights the terrible things that people do in order to remind readers how much injustice and suffering is the result of what human beings do to each other. Mark's emphasis on this perennial theme turns her book into something more than a simple story with local appeal, and the novel's broad relevance may have contributed to its brisk sale. Edna Brown Mark, for her part, isn't nearly as keen on the book's success as she is about the effect it may have on its reader." - Thomas Murawski, Alamance Staff Writer
It is so important to read, Sweeping Through The City. It will change your whole life in a wonderful way, and you will give this novel to generations to come to ensure a peaceful, fullfilled, happy life. You will also lead your admirers down the road of love, peace, contentment, and appreciation of humanity. Call 1-800-THE-BOOK or order on line at barnesandnoble.com, amazon.com, waldenbooks.com, publishamerica.com/books/5587. It's a small price for a pot of gold! - Edna Brown Mark, Author.
