Longlisted for the Dolman Travel Book of the Year - this is the doyen of travel writing at his elegiac and luminous best.
Colin Thubron is an acknowledged master of travel writing, and the winner of many prizes and awards. His first writing was about the Middle East - Damascus, Lebanon and Cyprus. In 1982 he travelled into the Soviet Union in an ancient Morris Marina, pursued by the KGB, a journey he recorded in Among the Russians. From these early experiences developed his classic travel books- Behind the Wall (winner of the Hawthornden Prize and the Thomas Cook Travel Award), The Lost Heart of Asia, In Siberia (Prix Bouvier) and Shadow of the Silk Road (all available in Vintage). In 2010 Colin Thubron became President the Royal Society of Literature.
Given that Thubron has shown himself over a lifetime's work to be
our finest, is seems fitting that what is as much memoir as travel
book should have as its setting the greatest spiritual pilgrimage
the East has to offer
*Daily Telegraph*
A master class in travel writing that's also infused with the
author's "shadowy melancholy" of ageing and grief...Thubron
showcases here all the skills that have earned him the champion's
belt as Britain's best living travel writer
*Sunday Times*
Exquisitely written, To a Mountain in Tibet is not just a
travelogue; it amounts to a heart-felt hosanna to the travails of
walking... Colin Thubron takes us back to the days of exploration
when the going was rough. To a Mountain in Tibet, a matchless work
of literary travel, confirms Thubron as a wise and discriminate
prospector in the affairs of man
*Irish Times*
Daring and brilliant. Thubron has crafted a book which beautifully
describes one man's experience of loss, familial love, and even the
state of mortal indeterminacy itself - how we all keep our
memories, consoled and bewildered by turns, the sun on our faces,
and the birds carrying above
*Observer*
This is a bold and brave journey, an elegiac book by a master of
prose at the height of his powers
*Evening Standard*
"The mountain path is the road of the dead," writes Thubron (Shadow of the Silk Road) in this engrossing and affecting travel memoir that transcends the mere physical journey. In the wake of his mother's death, Thubron sets off to Mount Kailas in Tibet, a peak sacred to one-fifth of the world's population and the source of four of India's great rivers. Kailas has never been climbed: the slopes are important to Tibetan Buddhists who say the mountain's guardian is Demchog (a tantric variant of Shiva). Along with two guides, Thubron embarks on a pilgrimage that begins in Nepal and crosses into Tibet, recounting not only his arduous journey but also the political and cultural history of Tibet and the West's continued fascination with its mysticism. Along the way, he observes pilgrims of various religions converging on Kailas and the myriad monasteries, most of which were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution and rebuilt decades later. It is the poignant evocations of his mother and sister (who died at 21), interwoven with his profound respect for the Tibetan culture and landscape that make Thubron's memoir an utterly moving read. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Given that Thubron has shown himself over a lifetime's work to be
our finest, is seems fitting that what is as much memoir as travel
book should have as its setting the greatest spiritual pilgrimage
the East has to offer * Daily Telegraph *
A master class in travel writing that's also infused with the
author's "shadowy melancholy" of ageing and grief...Thubron
showcases here all the skills that have earned him the champion's
belt as Britain's best living travel writer * Sunday Times *
Exquisitely written, To a Mountain in Tibet is not just a
travelogue; it amounts to a heart-felt hosanna to the travails of
walking... Colin Thubron takes us back to the days of exploration
when the going was rough. To a Mountain in Tibet, a
matchless work of literary travel, confirms Thubron as a wise and
discriminate prospector in the affairs of man -- Ian Thompson *
Irish Times *
Daring and brilliant. Thubron has crafted a book which beautifully
describes one man's experience of loss, familial love, and even the
state of mortal indeterminacy itself - how we all keep our
memories, consoled and bewildered by turns, the sun on our faces,
and the birds carrying above -- Joanna Kanvenna * Observer *
This is a bold and brave journey, an elegiac book by a master of
prose at the height of his powers -- Justin Marozzi * Evening
Standard *
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