N.C. Marks, author of “Plastered in Pretty.” (HNP photo)
PHILIPSBURG--Plastered in Pretty by N.C. Marks is a new pop-culture novel published here by House of Nehesi Publishers (HNP). Marks, from St. Vincent and the Grenadines, has written a “ferocious depiction” of a world dominated by social media appearances, said France-based Prix Carbet author Gerty Dambury.
Plastered in Pretty is “a dystopian tale set in a Caribbean paradise. Facebook and Instagram are virtual religious icons. A pyromaniac burns a new-born in the late night, and civil servants chat only via WhatsApp,” said HNP president Jacqueline Sample.
Marks gave a sneak preview of Plastered in Pretty at Montserrat’s literary festival on November 16. Audiences and book buyers were introduced to her fictional “friends with benefits, ‘Persons With Pedigree,’ and flamboyant vagrants,” said Sample.
The cover of “Plastered in Pretty,” a House of Nehesi Publication.
New readers will also encounter “a car-accident victim in distress over her US $1,000 hairpiece, a government minister’s ‘mysterious snake,’ and a church first lady protecting her psychopathic son with hush money. Yet the wilful but fragile protagonist is not yet among this list of characters,” said Sample.
This uncustomary Caribbean novel is a seething 128 pages. It is “A must read glimpse of the digital-age impact on the obsession with the need to be ‘liked’ and ‘pretty’ … with surprises,” said producer/host of St. Maarten’s leading TV talk show “Speaking of Everything” Oral Gibbes.
While often funny, whether racing through Vincentian society, a Colombian prison, or embarrassment at an haute-couture makeup counter in Paris, Plastered in Pretty takes no prisoners, said Sample.
Cindy Peters of Clark Atlanta University’s Department of Political Science puts it like this: “Personal tragedy, body-shaming, love triangles, sexual harassment intersect with challenges young adults face from materialism, globalisation and unkind political systems. A cleverly written short novel.”
Marks is a University of London alumna and teaches geography at St. Vincent Girls’ High School. The book’s bold cover is by award-winning graphic designer Carole Maugé-Lewis. The striking digital portrait dominating the cover entitled “Dark Girl” is by illustrator Nguyen Thanh Nhan.
Plastered in Pretty by N.C. Marks is available at Van Dorp bookstores in St. Maarten, Gaymes Book Centre in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, The Best of Books in Antigua, and at Amazon and spdbooks.org (https://bit.ly/2KeZmLL).
