Zane Kotker’s Queen of the Mountain – Book Launch Tues March 5
•
Please join us at the A.P.E. Gallery – 126 Main St, Northampton, MA – on Tuesday, March 5 at 7pm for a reading and book launch of Zane Kotker’s autobiographical novel, Queen of the Mountain.
From divine dualities and trinities in 1940’s Vermont to the gods of the modern era in New York City, Queen of the Mountain follows Josephine Osborn as she steers through the trials of child- and young adulthood, ultimately finding her voice.
In Bradford, Vermont, Josie was beholden to her father’s ministerial demands, while her mother provided her with lessons from nature. In
Chelsea, Massachusetts, her eyes were opened to the wider world, with kids of every background around her.
Connecticut’s Chaffee School opened her mind, taught her her own value, and hinted at the deeper mysteries in life. Middlebury College threw her back into coeducation, and a summer at work in Hartford threw her for a loop, as she suffered symptoms of depersonalization. New York City fed her working woman ambition, brought her affairs, heartbreak, and a husband. Her husband brought her his need for his children to be Jewish — therefore she must convert. After embattled psychoanalysis with the infamous Dr. Tuftson, worshipped by his dynamic group and beloved by her husband, she was thrust back into organized religion, from which she had run when young. Still, she settled into the joys and pitfalls of mothering and marriage: how do you teach your kids about god? Gods? Goddesses? And who does the teaching?
Death then briskly takes her husband, her mother more slowly. In grief and relief, she moves through her middle years, revisiting Bradford with a broader view. She comes full circle to Mount Moosilauke, hiking into self-knowledge and finally a sense of agency and peace.
Zane Kotker wrote this book for sixty years. Culled from journal entries, jotted down notes, and her own experiences, this autobiographical novel shares how she sifted through the beliefs of others in order to arrive at her own. We are happy to posthumously fulfill her wish to bring this novel to light.
apearts.org
zanekotker.com
Queen of the Mountain
Facebook Event: Book Launch and Reception
