The View From Breast Pocket Mountain is a unique and previously untold story, a treasure trove of experiences crossing borders and cultures, creating a life, and finding contentment in a far-off country.
To those who’ve ever wondered what their lives would be if they’d taken that road without a map, this is the book you need to read. The View From Breast Pocket Mountain gives us a glimpse of a life not designed or even imagined.
As a motherless teenager raised by a caring albeit strict father, we see Anton’s developing awareness of the world beyond the boundaries of her New York City neighborhood before she goes on to live in a castle in 1960s Denmark and a cabin in 1970s Vermont. With a burning curiosity and vision of a life as yet unformed, she travels overland to Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, and finally to the place she’ll come to call home, Japan.
This memoir is filled with unexpected encounters with the very famous and those unknown and unnamed. On a journey through marriage and motherhood, love, laughter, tragedy and hope, we follow along as Anton makes her way through a life unplanned but well lived. The View From Breast Pocket Mountain is a story for our time, reminding the reader of our interconnectedness, our shared humanity.
Publisher: Senyume Press (September 2020)
ISBN: 9780578696607
Page count: 287
Available at: Amazon.com, Amazon.co.jp, Bookshop.org, Barnes & Noble, Apple Books, Google Books, Kobo, Kinokuniya
"Do yourself a favor and read this book! We are thrilled to present you with a memoir in the finest sense of the genre. An easy read, packed with astonishing events that flow into one another like water, The View From Breast Pocket Mountain is a coming of age, cultural history lesson, travelogue, spiritual life journey, and enduring love story all in one. Who could ask for more? The writing is deft, refreshingly accessible, and at times even lyrical. Hill Anton is an excellent storyteller, her narration is honest, sincere, and tender, yet never self-indulgent—one cannot help but follow her from Harlem to Europe to the hills of Japan on a wildly inspirational journey to the self that is unlike any other. That Hill Anton is able to do this in a mere 296 pages is a testament to her mastery of the writing craft. So enjoyable, it reads like 100 pages. This is a memoir for the ages, and one that we fully expect will someday make a very fine film. A tour de force.”
— Memoir Magazine
