Thin Air by Michelle Paver

review by Maryom

In 1935, a five-man British expedition sets off to the Himalayas to climb Kangchenjunga, the third highest mountain in the world and considered by many mountaineers to be more treacherous than even Everest. Previous attempts to reach the summit have been plagued by disaster and death, particularly a British expedition of nearly thirty years before during which five men died but the leader, Lyell returned home to glory for his efforts. 

Stephen Pearce has only been asked along at the last minute by his elder brother, Kits, to fill the place of team doctor, and he isn't as experienced a mountaineer as the other climbers. He's eager and willing though, especially in the hope of proving himself capable in Kits' eyes, and wanting to escape various personal complications back in London. A chance meeting with Charles Tennant, last surviving member of the ill-fated Lyell Expedition,, leads Stephen to believe that strange things occurred which were never revealed in the 'official' publications about the trip ...and the scene is set for a harrowing climb. He is almost immediately on edge, believing their party is being watched, and as they begin the real ascent, and altitude sickness starts to kick in, his fears grow ...

Thin Air is a combination of adventure and ghost story, full of period detail - from the attitude of the British team towards their 'inferior' sherpas to the unappetising pemmican suppers eaten on the mountain -  and after a slow start, setting up the background with dark hints of what occurred on previous expeditions, and the long-held rivalry between the two brothers, turns into something terrifying in so many ways;

 - the sheer height and mountaineering dangers for starters. The precipitous drops, crevasses in the glacier ice, the narrow camping places where I felt they could roll over in their sleep and fall hundreds if not thousands of feet, cornices where the snow builds up a 'shelf' ready to collapse under too much weight; the physical dangers are very real and well captured.

 -  Cedric the dog - why let a dog go along? Ok it turned out the dog was based on a real life canine companion who followed an expedition up to 24, 000 ft (!) but authors are so often happy to kill off an animal while saving humans that a lot of the time I was petrified for him.

 - Oh, and then there's a ghostly, malevolent presence on the mountain. Paver builds up to its appearance gradually, as first Stephen tries to dismiss it as his imagination running wild or altitude sickness disturbing his senses but gradually comes to believe that someone or something is stalking their group, and, even if the other men can't see it, Cedric the dog knows there's something out there - and he's terrified when it approaches.

If you've read Michelle Paver's previous ghost story Dark Matter, you'll know how well she can build a creepy, unsettling atmosphere - and she's done it again here, in a very different environment. I for one couldn't put the story down but needed to read on to the final resolution before trying to sleep!


Maryom's review - 4 stars 
Publisher - Orion Books
Genre - adult fiction ghosts mountaineering 

When Nights Were Cold by Susanna Jones

review by Maryom

Fired by the exploits of Scott and Shackleton, young Grace Farringdon dreamed of being a polar explorer, but she soon discovers that, although a child may be inspired by them, such dreams are not at all suitable for a young woman in the early twentieth century. Grace is not going to give up quite that easily though. Unlike her sister who mildly accepts the restrictions imposed by society and her parents, Grace plots an escape to university, with or without her parents' blessing. There she forms the Antarctic Exploration Society - a small, mismatched group of young women, it makes up for what it lacks in size - 4 members - by enthusiasm and internal squabbles. Defying convention, dressing in practical bloomers, they head off to Snowdonia for a mountain climbing holiday, and plan an expedition to the Alps. At first all is exciting and fun but under stress the differences between them in outlook and stamina become increasingly marked, and the ever-present tensions between the four build to dangerous levels.....
 For fifteen years, Grace has shunned all contacts, hiding in her childhood Dulwich home, guarding a secret but now, at last, maybe she's ready to speak of that fateful day on the mountain ......

 When Nights Were Cold is an absorbing tale of friendship, mountaineering and pushing oneself to extremes that crackles with tension throughout. The reader knows from the very outset that something dreadful has occurred, something for which Grace feels guilty but which she's desperately trying to deny. As the story is told by Grace, the reader only has her word for the actual turn of events and I wondered at times how much 'she' was trying to mislead the reader - but the ultimate revelation is short and shocking when it comes, and well worth the build up.
You don't have to know anything about Polar expeditions of mountaineering to enjoy this book  - it's as much about friendships and rivalries, and women's dreams of living a life as engaging and challenging as that of men. Grace and her three fellow society members may disagree about a woman's place in society, whether she should be merely a home-maker and child-rearer or take a place in the wider world of academia or business - they're even divided on the burning question of the day, women's suffrage - but they all want to live life to the fullest. Unfortunately fate has other plans...


Maryom's review - 4.5 stars
Publisher - Mantle (Panmacmillan)
Genre - adult historical fiction, 

Seven Years In Tibet by Heinrich Harrer

Journey to The Roof of the World
review by Maryom

Austrian mountaineer Heinrich Harrer finds himself caught in British India at the start of WW2 and interned along with other foreign nationals. His determination to escape increases when he is moved to a camp at Dehra Dun in northern India, within sight of the Himalayas. With such a temptation on the horizon, he and a group of fellow climbers make a bid for freedom, travelling on foot over some of the highest mountain passes in the world, heading for the neutral but forbidden country of Tibet.

This is a book I've wanted to read since I first saw the film of the same title starring Brad Pitt. Every time I watch the DVD I say 'I must track down that book' and at last (thanks yet again to the library service) I have.
It's an utterly fascinating and astonishing account of Harrer's journey to and through Tibet, catching a snapshot of a culture soon to be over-run by Chinese invasion of 1950.
The film certainly gave no feeling of the difficulties they encountered, not so much getting into Tibet, but staying there as well, putting more emphasis on Harrer's friendship with the young Dalai Lama. I certainly wasn't aware that the Tibetans tried several times to expel him, that he had run-ins with bandits as well as officials or that most of the seven years had passed before he finally reached Lhasa.
In some ways the book is less personal than the film - for example there's no mention of the wife left behind in Austria or any hint of any friction between Harrer and expedition leader Aufschnaiter as seen in the film - but the reader still gets to know Harrer and share his disappointment when he has to leave Tibet. It's main loss, though, is the stunning scenery (though I discovered the film was shot in the Andes rather than the Himalayas due to political problems) and some photographs would have been nice.

All in all a fascinating real-life adventure book.

Maryom's review - 5 stars
Genre - adult non-fiction, autobiography,

Buy Seven Years in Tibet (Paladin Books) from Amazon