(1888PressRelease)
October 25, 2007 - A dog with pleading eyes, looking from behind the bars of a cage, is the cover of Jane Mann’s book, “The Cause”. This novel is a journey exploring love for animals, completed by a love story between a man and a woman and their devotion for "the cause".
The book considers both the - sometimes - excessive actions and the dedication of a movement fighting for the defence of animals. The protagonist finds herself in the middle of the struggle, is persuaded to go undercover to work in a vivisection lab, experiencing - and describing - with her own eyes what animals go through for the sake of “science”.
“The movement is often misrepresented in the press,” says the author, “which deliberately focuses on a few extreme actions for condemnation instead of the fundamental objectives of respect and a duty of care to prevent suffering. The way we treat animals is an important issue of our time and I felt I wanted to reflect this in my book. I believe very much in the great Indian leader Gandhi’s statement that “the greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be measured by the way its animals are treated.”
The protagonist of “The Cause”, Kate, is herself suspicious about joining the group in the beginning but she gradually gets drawn in by an irresistible attraction to a man whose cause she needs to share – a cause for which he has been fighting for most of his life.
Jane Mann is herself interested in animal rights issues. She made a point of finding out all she could about vivisection, reading undercover accounts and watching undercover films which revealed the truth of what really happens to animals in laboratories. By the publication of “The Cause” Jane Mann wishes to bring more attention to the issue of vivisection, hoping that the realities of the suffering and abuse of animals will be more widely recognised.
This is her second novel. The first, “Chang Fook and the Viper”, was published in Hong Kong by OUP and used as a reader in schools there to help students with their English. She has also had her poetry published in magazines, including Literary Review, Writing Magazine and Blinking Eye and her poems have recently won a number of prizes.
“The Cause” is being published by Vinca Press and is on sale at £8.99. It is available from Amazon and from other booksellers and book comparison sites.
For further information, please visit www.the-cause.co.uk.
