MAVRC Book Club discussion

Hi everyone,

I wanted to share a book recommendation that may resonate with this group’s focus on military and veteran experiences. My debut novel, The Mark (Built to Vanish: Book 1), is a literary coming-of-age story set at the U.S. Naval Academy. While it’s fiction, the book wrestles with themes very relevant to the conversations here: the costs of loyalty, the weight of institutional culture, and the ways ambition, secrecy, and identity collide in environments built on discipline and conformity.

Rather than being a traditional military story of combat or war, The Mark is about four midshipmen whose friendship becomes a lifeline and a burden at the same time. Their bond forces them to choose between staying invisible (a kind of survival strategy within the Academy) and showing up for one another — even when visibility itself comes with risk.

It may be of particular interest to readers here because it highlights the emotional and cultural side of service preparation, looking at how institutions shape the people who pass through them — and what it costs to remain loyal to yourself and to others.

If anyone is interested, ARCs are available through BookSirens here: https://bit.ly/3KmwGnb. This way you can vet it for free. Or read a sample to see if it’s a fit for your group.

Here is the purchase link: https://bit.ly/4mz2Vx1

I’d also be grateful for any thoughts, feedback, or even questions about how the book approaches the Academy experience.

Thank you for letting me share — I think The Mark could spark thoughtful discussion about the intersection of identity, friendship, and institutional service culture.

— Anne