Gonna Lay Down My Burdens

On the eve of her wedding Carmen Taylor runs to her best friend's rescue as she flees her abusive fiancé. Before the night is over, Carmen has determined that her life must take another direction, and a murder has taken place. Monroe gives us complex and richly drawn characters amid a contemporary Southern background. Lizan Mitchell's expressive narration makes the characters and their plight memorable. Whether a ghetto princess, a brute of a man, or a Creole vixen, Mitchell gives each a distinctive and authentic voice. While somewhat a soap opera, this is a highly entertaining audiobook. P.R. (c) AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine

September 1, 2002
Mary Monroe's Gonna Lay Down My Burdens opens with a bang, when Carmen Taylor intervenes in a violent lovers' quarrel between her friends Chester and Desiree, and Chester winds up dead. Most of the novel is told in flashback, following Carmen and Chester's ill-fated attraction to one another, which began when they were teenagers. It traces the friendship between Carmen and troubled Desiree, as well as Carmen's relationship with Burl, a boy she tried to use to make Chester jealous, with disastrous and long-lasting results. Monroe (God Don't Like Ugly) will surely return to the Blackboard bestseller list with this title, a standout among similar offerings. National advertising; 8-city author tour.