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Please WAIT! Then SCROLL DOWN for Daughters of Utopia.      [ Are you in this picture? ]
A Synopsis.
(CLICK HERE for excerpts, a book review, and ordering information.)

Claire Strassfeld is a fifth degree blackbelt who understands that men will batter women because they believe they won’t fight back. That is why Strassfeld swears that if she knows who the next victim is going to be, she is willing to raise more than her fists to stop the abuse.

Three men then attack Strassfeld simultaneously an Adirondack supermarket parking lot [=Tops in AuSable Forks]. She makes quick work of her assailants, only to learn that the assault is staged by her sensei, who supervises the onslaught as part of her grooming to become his successor. Strassfeld asks her master if she passes this test, but the sensei only laughs. They both know that ultimately it is not her martial skill, but the budo of her students that determines whether she is ready to be a master.

Daughters of Utopia Author Moss Krupnick's fast-moving adventure story is about strong women, black belt karate, a Utopian nature retreat drawn from Fourpeaks Adirondack Backcountry Camps, and an insular Northcountry community very much like Jay NY.  A fun way to learn about Fourpeaks from the perspective of a big-city visitor. (CLICK HERE for excerpts and order form.)

When Strassfeld pays for her groceries, the sight of the cashier’s badly blackened right eye appalls her. Strassfeld tells “Jodi Walton,” as the battered teenager’s nametag reads, that she herself was once battered, and, if she wants the beating to stop, she can help. Walton answers that she does not know what Strassfeld is talking about.

Jodi Walton is shot in the back while fleeing from the older man with whom she lives. The wounded teenager runs deep into the dense Adirondack forest surrounding her home. Believing she will soon be with Jesus, Walton rushes through the icy winter darkness to embrace a light she sees in the distance. The light Walton sees does not shine from heaven, but an outhouse lantern. Walton stumbles upon “No Place,” [=Fourpeaks] the pristinely beautiful remote mountain retreat of a tiny band of fugitives. “The Cenacle,” as the residents the of the rustic homestead call themselves, fled New York City ten years earlier, after fighting a small war against a vicious street gang known as “God’s Will.” Not knowing that the women they sought to rape were highly skilled martial artists, the soldiers of God’s Will assumed their female victims would be easy prey. They were dead wrong. A decade later, the women of No Place remain in naturally splendid seclusion with their families, praying the law and the past never catch up with them. Jodi Walton’s father, Jimmy Walton, [An exploitive local industrial boss, the bad guy.] reports to the State Police that his daughter has been shot and kidnapped by a cult hiding out in the forest across from his home. When the State Police cannot verify her father’s complain, he hires a posse of his employees to murder not only his daughter, but also all the members of The Cenacle, before they can report his attempt on her life.

Jodi Walton is offered permanent asylum at No Place, and accepts it. During the long, isolated winter of her recovery, she occupies herself by studying the martial skills of her hosts. Though her adult teachers, with Claire Strassfeld among them, are patient, Walton spends countless hours practicing with the two, ten year old blackbelt daughters of No Place.

When she discovers that her father knows her whereabouts, Jodi Walton realizes that her life and the lives of her hosts are at stake. With nowhere else to hide, she departs the sanctuary of No Place to confront him.
(Synopsis interrupted.)

Ready to buy the book? (If you read any more that may spoil the book for you.)
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-Or- if you want to know the whole story right now, just scroll all the way down this 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(Synopsis concluded.)
Strassfeld and her sensei purse Walton to rescue her from certain death, but arrive too late to stop Jimmy Walton’s attempt to kill his daughter. They can only watch as an elementary kung fu movement Walton learns from the daughters of No Place saves her life. The sensei, greatly impressed by Walton’s flawless technique, confirms Strassfeld as his successor. Jodi Walton, while attending the birth the newest daughter of No Place in a Plattsburgh, New York hospital, sees a pregnant woman walking the hallway of the maternity floor. She also notices the belt marks left when whoever it was last beat her. Walton tells the woman that if she wants the beating to stop, Walton can help. The woman replies she does not know what Walton is talking about.

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An Adirondack Miscellany   Newspaper and Magazine articles, Books and lots more.  
January 1998 Ice storm of the Century Devastates Northcountry.
May 1998 Town of Jay Happy 200th Birthday Party at the 1829 Southmayd Stone House
June 1998 Natives and Outsiders at the Jay Old Covered Bridge.
July 1777 Jane McCrae Murdered by Indians in Ft. Edward NY
Adirondack Great Camps: Adventures in the Wilderness.
Miss P, the famous www.Internet web purrcat, interviews Tramp, our Fourpeaks barking cocker.  
Ironman USA comes to Fourpeaks.  
Chickadees In Winter   
Flying Critters on your Adirondack Vacation.
Adirondack Letters: "Hints of Balsam and Pine from our corner of the Adirondacks."
AuSable River Swimming: Where the Pools Are Never Crowded, And Water Slides Are Nature's Own (New York Times)
A new novel about Fourpeaks: Moss Krupnick's Daughters of Utopia, 196 pages, $9.98
For your Adirondack experience--"Stay Awhile In Style!" Plattsburgh-Republican November 2002.
NATURE WITHIN REACH: Luxury Camping. (July 2004, Southwest Airlines SPIRIT (In-flight Magazine.)
Annual Jay Yard Sale. (First Sale August 19, 2006.) )
Adirondack Recipes  (Page 1: Japanese Food.)

Fourpeaks offers lots more than just lodgings. Browse our 10 activity pages for 20 miles of private hiking/skiing trails, an unequalled nature experience with no people. River swimming, floating, wilderness canoeing, fishing at the famed AuSable River nearby. And just R&R in our accessible wilderness. [CLICK HERE for Fourpeaks Adirondack Activities.]

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Are you in this picture? Fourpeaks hosts now welcome paying guests to a 700-acre rest and playground for vacations in the Adirondack Great Camp tradition. Couples appreciate Fourpeaks secluded settings. Adventure families have fun exploring our accessible wilderness. Folks with dogs enjoy the open spaces to run their pets. A private nature retreat, a place for restoring personal energies. Are you in this picture?  CLICK HERE to find out!    [More about this at Frequently Asked Questions.]

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