The Mark

by Dr. Jeff Deal

represented by agent Jeanie Pantelakis

 The Mark  is an ominously accurate depiction of mid-1980s Sudan which follows Thon Bol as he undertakes the Dinka rites of passage into manhood amid war torn Sudan. Thon takes us from the villages to the cattle camps where he encounters a villainous traitor who learned how to gain power by making artifacts of body parts harvested during child sacrifices. He and his age mate, Matak, pursue the man into the midst of Anyana Two, the name given to Sudan’s last civil war. Thon also seeks his father whom he knew to be fighting with the SPLA (Sudan People’s Liberation Army).

Facing opposition from all sides: a murderer in his own tribe, the Laraap, and nature’s relentless onslaught, who will win this battle?

“The Mark is a beautiful and brutal book about innocence and its loss, about the ravages of war and the love of family. Jeff Deal has captured with an unflinching eye the clash between warring tribal clans and warring legions of mechanized soldiers, giving us a tremendously powerful tale of what it means to be a Dinka in the midst of the evil of the Sudanese civil war. Deeply moving, intrinsically compelling, I cared beyond measure what happened to Thon on his harrowing road to manhood.”

-          Bret Lott

https://sites.google.com/site/jeffdealbooksandarticles/

http://www.markoulakispublications.org.uk/en/books/9780955747465