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Norma cover

  • eBook Edition
    • 978-1-03-910458-7
    • epub, pdf files
  • Paperback Edition
    • 978-1-03-910456-3
    • 6.0 x 9.0 inches
    • Black & White interior
    • 414 pages
  • Hardcover Edition
    • 978-1-03-910457-0
    • 6.0 x 9.0 inches
    • Black & White interior
    • 414 pages
  • Keywords
    • Good versus evil,
    • Power of kindness,
    • Small-town drama,
    • Power of love,
    • Mothers and daughters,
    • Small-town crime,
    • Thriller

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Norma
by Mark Zwolinski


Norma, a new work of fiction by writer Mark Zwolinski, asks you to enjoy a roller coaster like story about a kind, elderly woman, who saves a town from corruption and violence by surviving those very things herself. But the book also asks you to consider how you read fiction. Norma, as a work of fiction, intends to take its audience through a heroic tale where a 56 year old woman's life changes after she discovers a phone that belonged to a young murder victim, who bravely took a video of her assailants during a fatal altercation. There is all manner of life therein: love, sadness, emotion, endurance, the things we see when we look in the mirror, the challenges facing the elderly, poetry, youth, and above all, kindness. At the same time, there are two dissertations on the unseen balances between truth and lies. They are meant to create an over-riding ideology, which presents a constant reminder about the always undefinable space in which the characters live in, and the spaces we find ourselves in. It is an intellectual exercise in reading that will appeal to any lover of fiction. It is different. it is challenging, yet it is rewarding. All along, the truth about truth and lies, and the spaces we live in, are not truly defined until the book arrives at its final words. There is a strength there, and it is waiting for you. Finding it will rake all of your emotions. But there is a triumph in that. It is a tale for all ages. It's waiting there in this easy to read, page turner that mirrors the experience of spending time in an art museum with your favorite paintings.


Okay. Countless fictional characters have been worthy of their own book. Add Norma to the list. Norma is going to make you laugh. She’s going to make you cry. She’s going to make you think. And most of all, she’s going to make you wish you could meet her. And, basically, you can. She’s you, no matter who you are. She’s the embodiment of the benevolence we all have existing inside us, naturally: Her story is built on kindness, manners, intelligence, work ethic, and a genuine love for friends and family. But, that story is also fraught with challenges. Norma battles throughout the book with an old haunt: her lack of confidence. She is the older person you might see walking in front of you, alone, dressed in shabby clothes, and leaning on a shopping cart for support, as they make their way into a grocery store. Would you even notice? Maybe, maybe not. There’s be no outward reason to. But if you see, as Norma does, with a loving eye, with a poet’s eye, or even with a forced eye, then you’ll see and feel the value of a life lived. Here, with Norma, you’ll explore emotions. You’ll see how kindness works, beyond the measure of a “random act of kindness” that is popular on social media today. You’ll see an older person, one who was never asked to her prom, one who never really had a boyfriend, outside of one memorable night, and how she fits in with her small town, and especially a group of young friends. Together, they pull Norma into things she’s never done before, and some off them couldn’t be crazier. And yet, there’s a peace overriding the story. It’s a space, resulting from the battleground between truth and lies. It’s the end of Norma’s journey, and when you reach the end with her, you’ll have to understand just where you’ve arrived. This is a story that is aching to tell itself to you. It dives in and out of your mind and heart. It unveils some of the imperfections of life, and walks through crucial aspects of life – loneliness, the forgotten plight of older people; the bonds between young and old; the depths from which corruption springs; and the meaning of what it takes to be an every day angel. You are going to meet some crazy characters, too. A group of teenage friends – Dianne, Cherry, and Cinncy – bring friendship and acceptance to Norma’s life. Dyonna – Norma’s nurse in her recovery from her brush with death – befriends Norma in a loving friendship between two people who couldn’t be more different. It is the sense of friendship that nurses Norma back to physical health. All the while, she is also undergoing a transformation – inside, where life is waiting to explain itself to you. And that’s not even half of it. Norma is thrust into life on the streets. A job cutting program, at the burger joint where she works, gets her fired. In rapid succession, no job means no money for rent, means kicked out of her modest apartment, onto the street. Your luck couldn’t run lower, but it can run the gamut of things like gang violence, police corruption, and no one wanting to hire you because you’re too old, and you don’t look like employee material. And luck – and hope – run even lower after Norma becomes embroiled in that dark side of her town. Life can be a weird turn of events, and weird is just what Norma goes through in her recovery from the decent of the first half of the book. Norma survives, and she does it in the most heroic ways. Only, she’s not a hero, she’s a friend and she tries to be there for everyone. You don’t even know her last name throughout the book until the end. And rest assured, it’s a perfect last name for the whole story. Get ready for a page turner. For an exploration of just about every emotion you have. And mostly, get ready for Norma, the perfect person to show you what a hero is really made of


Mark Zwolinski photo

Mark Zwolinski was born in Toronto, and raised in the Downsview area of North York. He is a proud alumni of Cornelius Parkway Public School, Queensborough Junior High School, and Nelson Boylen SS. Immediately after graduation, he played two seasons in the minor leagues for New York Mets, where JP Ricciardi and Billy Beane were teammates (Little Falls Mets). He attended York University, began writing for the Excalibur student newspaper, then joined the Toronto Star as a freelancer in 1982. He’s been there ever since, covering the Toronto Blue Jays and the Toronto Maple Leafs. In 1995, he authored a book, “The Fight of his Life,” a story of the late John Kordic, who played in the NHL for Montreal, Toronto, Washington, and Quebec. He’s the proud husband to Iris Duncan, who endures his passions in drag racing and model railroading. If anyone asks, Zwolinski will tell them that kindness, respect, and manners, matter most.


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