What Mama Brings to the Cradle  By Irene Kessler 

When we write there is always a bit of us in there, but as I look back on this book, my debut novel Mountain of Full Moons, I realize there were many things in my life that inspired what I put in writing. It even surprised me. The strange thing is that the words came and I wrote them down, not connecting any of the dots, only aware of passions inside that needed to get out of my body before I exploded. 

Passions like singing which allowed me to express things I was not allowed to at home as both child and partly through adulthood. Elisha, my main character, uses them to calm herself and find the words she needs.

Elisha has a difficult time accepting God. My parents were proclaimed atheists after the Holocaust. They instilled it in me and I had the same problem she did. 

As a child I knew nothing about women’s right to vote but I knew we were considered inferior to men. Perhaps it was because the teacher called on the boys though the girls hands were raised. Or because my father called my mother stupid and told me I was stupid and fat and that my hair was horrible and he was going to get me a baldy in the barber shop. Or maybe it was just because he was bigger than both of us.

At age eight I walked to the garage with him to get the car. I loved walking with him. He could be mean, but he also could be kind and taught me to ride my two wheeler bike and took me fishing. I tried to make my steps as long as his. I knew that he made the decisions and unequivocally decided I would live my life like a boy. I didn’t do a good job of that, but I did become an independent person and learned to fight for what I needed physically – but not emotionally.

It was only recently that I read Eliana Gil’s book, Outgrowing The Pain, and when I finished I cried out, “That’s me – right there on the page.” There was no one to hear. Her words made me realize I was abused emotionally and neglected as a child. My mother gave me orders of what to do and how to do it. I came home from school to this conversation. “Have your milk and cookies over the sink, I just finished cleaning. Then do your homework and practice the piano.” How to maneuver life was never talked about. When I got my period the only thing she did was help me put on the Kotex pad. Or was it Modess? I was left to my own devices. I think I poured my loneliness into Elisha, perhaps as a way of recognizing it in myself.  

What I do know as a psychologist, is that what happens to a child in those formative years becomes the norm throughout adulthood if we do not recognize and question the happenings, the why’s, thoroughly. Otherwise It remains the expected and we are never released from its torment.

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About Mountain of Full Moons

Thirteen-year-old Elisha lives in a village near Shechem in the Land of Canaan in ancient Israel. She wants to be like other girls but is unmarried, speaks to an angel, and composes and sings her own songs―a pursuit her parents disapprove of. When she tells the village women to stand up for themselves, the men are outraged, and the tribe banishes her. After journeying alone through the desert, escaping bandits, wild animals, and men who would sell her as a servant, Elisha makes it to Jerusalem, where the angel guides her to study with Abraham and Sarah. She learns much including reading and writing, and Abraham even gives her Doron, his servant, to accompany her as she sings her songs throughout the country. Doron becomes her lover and her songs are well accepted―until she sings one about equality for women. Mountain of Full Moons explores how we overcome our fears, go out into the world, and gain the courage to speak up and be whom we choose to be.

 

About the Author

Born in New York City, Irene Kessler is a Jill of many trades. As a single mother of three, she was the Polaroid Camera Girl, sold jewelry, and held makeup parties to supplement her alimony. She moved on to sing minor roles at New York City Opera, the Metropolitan Opera, and the Teatro Principal in Barcelona, Spain. Irene received her master’s degree in psychology, moved to Florida, and became an eating disorder specialist at Glenbeigh Hospital. She completed her PhD in 1997 and went on to work at the Radar Institute and Renfrew Center. She was in private practice for over thirty years, during which time she also joined a local quartet that performed opera, operetta, and Broadway tunes at venues in Broward and Palm Beach counties. She was inspired to begin writing after attending a presentation by writer and teacher Joyce Sweeney

 

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