The Mark

by Jen Nadol

Overview

Sixteen-year-old Cassandra Renfield has always seen the mark-a light glow reminiscent of candlelight. The only time she pointed it out taught her she shouldn't do it again. For years, the mark has followed Cassie, its rare appearances odd, but insignificant. Until the day she watches a man die. As she revisits each occurrence of the mark, Cassie realizes she can see a person's imminent death. Not how or where, only when: today.


Now armed with a slight understanding of the mark, Cassie begins to search for it. Even as she hides her secret, Cassie mines her philosophy class, her memories, and even her new boyfriend for answers about the faint glowing mark. But many questions remain. How does it work? Why her? And finally, the most important of all: If you know today is someone's last, should you tell them?

Look out for the second book in this series, The Vision, available now!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781599906072
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	08/20/2010
Series:	The Mark Series , #1
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
Lexile:	700L (what's this?)
File size:	285 KB
Age Range:	14 Years

About the Author

Jen Nadol has a BA in Literature from American University and currently resides in a 150 year old farmhouse in Ossining, New York with her husband and three young sons. She has no paranormal abilities and is pretty happy about it. This is her first book.


www.jennadolbooks.com
Jen Nadol has a BA in literature from American University and currently resides in a hundred-and-fifty-year-old farmhouse with her husband and three young sons. She is also the author of The Mark, which has been optioned for television by Warner Brothers. Jen has no paranormal abilities-and is pretty happy about it. www.jennadolbooks.com  

Editorial Reviews

Nadol debuts with a thoughtful exploration of fate and free will. Cassie is 16 when she realizes she can tell that a person will shortly die. She has seen an aura surrounding people for years, but its meaning is made certain when she follows a “marked” man and witnesses his demise. After she fails to prevent her grandmother’s death, she’s sent to live with an unknown aunt halfway across the country. Even there, she continues to see marked people and feels powerless to help them, until she sees the glow on her boyfriend, Lucas, and manages to avert his death. Lucas encourages Cassie to try to change others’ fates, but strangers are scared by her predictions, and she struggles with the ethical ramifications of her actions. Nadol’s story is more than a modern take on the Cassandra story of Greek myth, and the author uses her protagonist’s moral torment (and a philosophy course she takes) to touch on schools of philosophical thought, from Aristotle to Plato. As in life, there are no tidy endings, but the engrossing narration and realistic characters create a deep, lingering story. Ages 14–up. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

Gr 9 Up—Cassie Renfield, 16, can tell when people are about to die by the glow she sees surrounding them. "The mark" has always been part of her life, though it isn't until she sees it on her beloved grandmother that she begins to question whether she should try to prevent the deaths. When Nan dies, Cassie is sent to her father's hometown in Kansas to spend the summer with an aunt she has never met. There she begins a romance with Lucas, a handsome philosophy student whose life Cassie saves after the mark appears on him. Emboldened by this success, she agrees to his plea that she tell those with the mark about their impending deaths, although in her heart she isn't sure that fate should be changed. Nadol's debut novel is a compelling coming-of-age tale with a bright, likable narrator. Teens will identify with Cassie's uncertainty about her future and the challenges she faces in her first relationship. Although her ability borders on the supernatural, her dilemma and emotions feel genuine and believable thanks to Nadol's sensitive writing. Cassie's search for information about her parents is a natural response to returning to her father's hometown, although the subplot in which she stumbles upon a huge secret about her mother (thanks to someone she "coincidentally" meets early in the novel) seems contrived and feels hastily tacked on at the novel's end. Despite this, readers will eagerly follow Cassie's story and will hope for a sequel.—Leah J. Sparks, formerly at Bowie Public Library, MD

School Library Journal

A compelling protagonist and a riveting premise search for a story, in a dark fantasy that reads like a Twilight Zone episode. Sixteen-year-old Cassie has always seen the "mark" around someone about to die, but has only recently realized its significance. After her beloved grandmother's death, Cassie is forced to spend the summer with a distant aunt, grappling with the implications of her "gift." She tumbles into a passionate affair with the handsome TA of her philosophy class, who has his own ideas about the responsibilities of such foreknowledge. Cassie is a thoughtful, sympathetic character whose struggles with her unpleasant power feel very real; her agonizing over confronting strangers with their imminent death is heartwrenching. The other characters, however, serve only to convey information and illustrate various ethical positions. As the coincidental revelations of long-concealed secrets pile up, the plot lurches into implausibility, with a conclusion frustratingly devoid of any resolution. Still, the ideas explored could inspire heated classroom debates, and philosophically inclined teens will find that the central question of "What happens now?" will linger long after the many plot holes are forgotten. (Horror. YA)

Kirkus Reviews

Nadol has interwoven an absorbing and thoughtful philosophical dilemma with a YA romance....A great book for discussion groups, this will engender plenty of conversation.” —Booklist

“A compelling protagonist and a riveting premise.” —Krikus Reviews

“A thoughtful exploration of fate and free will....The engrossing narration and realistic characters create a deep, lingering story.” —Publishers Weekly

“A compelling coming-of-age tale with a bright, likable narrator....Although her ability borders on the supernatural, her dilemma and emotions feel genuine and believable thanks to Nadol's sensitive writing.” —School Library Journal

“A thoughtful dramatization of a fascinating philosophical conundrum, complete with musings on fate and free will that never stray too far from Cassie's perspective and her quest to define herself, her family history, and her purpose in life.” —The Horn Book

From the Publisher