About the Novel

He was magic, and everything and everyone around him became magic as well. Elvis Presley showed us that dreams really can come true; he gave even the most ordinary among us the courage to believe and transform his life.

When the protagonists of Graceland—a successful fifty-year-old structural engineer, Paul, and twenty-nine-year-old Dollar Tree employee, Norma Jean—meet at a bizarre wedding presided over by "The Good Reverend Elvis Presley," they're instantly attracted to each other, and Norma Jean, at least, recognizes that Paul is definitely "The One" for her. Paul, however, isn't ready to break a life-long commitment to never being committed.

While Norma Jean is open about her estranged marriage to a welder who calls her only when he's drunk or horny, Paul, who has never been married, pretends to have a wife to discourage Norma Jean from thinking they have a future together.

Despite Paul's reluctance to become romantically involved with the gorgeous, freewheeling Norma Jean, he does agree to accompany her to Graceland, the home of Elvis Presley. En route, Norma Jean, against Paul's wishes, picks up a hitchhiker, an enigmatic elderly man known only as T.C.B. Although he's initially eager to get home to Tupelo, Mississippi, T.C. ends up playing a major role in Paul and Norma Jean's romance, and he provides invaluable assistance to Norma Jean as she pursues one of her most cherished dreams – spending the night inside Graceland so that she can commune with the spirit of Elvis. Hovering over every chapter of the novel is the almost mythical figure of Elvis himself.

In part an Elvis fantasy that will entertain both non-fans and aficionados of The King, Graceland is primarily an intelligent, poignant, and very funny love story.

Mark and Gabrielle are currently polishing a screenplay adaptation of their novel.