High among the crags of Crooked Mountain in

northem Vermont, a sacred indian size overlooks :he

village of Dalton Pond. Although the mountain has been

protected for generations within the boundaries of Snoot

and Frouncy Audette s battered farm, everything changes

when their Son, Junior, comes back from Vietnam per-

manently re, aimed, embittered, and alienated from his

parents and his beautiful, half-Abenaki wife, Cfaire.

Secretly Junior sells the farm to a local developer.

The battle for the land and its unique heritage begins

when Walker Owen is summoned northward by his old

friend, the outlaw farmer/giant/logger and all-around

rascal Snoot. Walker is Claire s former lover (and much

on her mind, lately, despite his ten-year absence). Now a

restless "flatlander" lawyer, Walker is eager to pitch in

and win back whatever he can--despite ]unior. But his

legal skills are put aside when Claire s mysterious Abe-

naki father, Horton Eagle-in-the-Wind, sets in motion an

unconditional and final standard of magical justice.

Don Metz s new novel is stunning proof that his

brilliant first novel, Catamount Bridge, was no accident.

Peopled with unforgettable New England characters and

bristling with a northwoods language of its own, King of

the Mountain is a dramatic tale of love and redemption,

of "Native" vs. " Flatlander" that examines how people

behave when their land is threatened, when uninvited

change occurs. From the rapacious developers disposa-

ble mindset, to Snoot s stubborn Yankee practicality, to

Walker s struggle to rediscover himself in the only place

he s ever wanted to call home, to the Abenakis principle

of gentle custodianship--territorial rights and passions

flare, and the resulting fireworks will delight readers

from Maine to California.