The true story of Joseph Mountain in the mid-1700s forms the basis of Mountain, the new novel by Robert Kuncio-Raleigh.
Joseph is a free black raised by notable white Philadelphians before the revolutionary war. At 17, he is given an educational stipend for travel to London. He meets two entertainers, who make their living as highwaymen by night, and eventually takes to the seas as a ship crew member.
Finally returning to the United States, Joseph is determined to put his past behind him. He seeks to change a world full of bigotry and reunites with his childhood sweetheart and his birth mother. This fictionalized true story is a tale of love, realized boyhood dreams, and adventure. Mountain raises questions about bias, human differences, and justice.
Robert Kuncio-Raleigh graduated with a master’s degree in Comparative Language and English from Penn State. As curator at Benjamin Franklin’s library, he assembled the first exhibition of material relating to black history and has published previous undiscovered poems of Phyllis Wheatly, America’s first black poet.
Mountain is available in softcover (ISBN 978-1-949756-78-4) and eBook (ISBN 978-1-949756-79-1) from Virtualbookworm.com, Amazon.com, and Barnesandnoble.com. The books can also be ordered from most bookstores around the United States and United Kingdom. More information can be found at the author’s website, mountainnovel.com.
