Bristow author, journalist and educator Katherine Mercurio Gotthardt has just published her newest book “Approaching Felonias Park.” The novel follows the journey of a young woman, who faces issues of poverty, domestic abuse and corporate corruption.
Gotthardt, who has previously published a book of poetry, “Poems from the Battlefield” and a children’s story, “Furbily Furd Takes on the World,” said she wanted to write a cautionary novel, having experienced poverty first hand.
Gotthardt had experienced poverty at the most difficult time in her life, when she was pregnant and when she was raising her children as a single mother. She said writing “Approaching Felonias Park” helped her to reconcile with her past and to channel much of her anger into creative expression.
“I remember my food stamp days and WIC days, and I have a lot of problems with people being judgmental, and saying, ‘go to work,” (not understanding) I would if I could have,” Gotthardt said.
But even after she was on her feet with a college degree, Gotthardt fell victim to what she calls predatory student loans from a college that did not meet regulatory compliances. Around the same time Gotthardt was also working for a for-profit career college that also was not meeting regulatory compliance.
It was then she said that she began to realize the degree to which these schools profited by taking advantage of the most vulnerable among us. Many schools even promised nonexistent services.
“Approaching Felonias Park” addresses the loan industry and what Gotthardt perceives as their predatory practices. In “Felonias Park” she chose the payday loan industry.
“The payday loan industry is a metaphor for all predatory lending,” Gotthardt said.
But despite its activist message, Gotthardt also describes “Approaching Felonias Park,” as a character-driven novel, and the driving force for Jezabel is her desire to obtain financial, emotional and spiritual independence.
“Jezabel is in an abusive relationship. She has this mystical experience, in which she rethinks her relationship and what she’s doing for a living. She is trying to get unstuck. More and more, she’s coming to a realization. She is barely making it herself, but she is working with these people, (for whom) it is getting worse and worse,” said Gotthardt.
Gotthardt believes “Approaching Felonias Park” is accessible and should appeal to anyone who appreciates gritty and fast paced fiction with realistic characters and expressive language.
“Approaching Felonias Park” can be ordered at Gotthardt’s website and at Aberdeen Bay Publishing. It will also be available on Amazon, and Barnes and Noble online.
Gotthardt also founded Writers for a Cause, an organization that allows writers to donate proceeds from their books to charities of their choosing.
Proceeds from “Approaching Felonias Park” will benefit the food pantry at Bull Run Unitarian Universalist Church in Old Town Manassas.
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