Awards

• Short-listed for Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature 2017
• Short-listed for Highland Book Prize 2018

Overview

Christopher Nicholson's first book of nature writing is a beautiful account of an unusual obsession. In 2016 he spent August searching for the remaining snows of the Scottish Highlands. His account of his solitary walk is by turns funny, fascinating and inspiring. A meditation on walking, mountains, snow and our changing climate, Nicholson also turns his curious eye on nature-lovers themselves. What are we looking for when we walk and what is it we want from nature? What is it we see and what is it we miss? What remains when we are gone and what have we lost from the landscape forever?

Full Product Details

9781910463604

Table of Contents

Reviews

'This is the kind of beautiful writing that transcends form - in this case nature writing - to arrive somewhere improbable and compelling.' Paul Evans, Guardian | 'A beautiful book about love and loss, fragility and chance, the wide world and the near world...full of intense light and colour, extraordinary glimpses, moving insights and subtle humour.' Richard Kerridge, author of Cold Blood | 'A ravishingly lovely book.' Keggie Carew author of Dadland | 'What shines through is a love of wild places without the need to conquer summits or tick lists. It is a love affair that is addictive ... and [Nicholson] expresses it in such a beautiful way in this unusual and evocative narrative.' Active Outdoors | 'A glorious little book, beautifully produced by an independent publisher.' The Telegraph | 'Haunting, moving, silent, and profoundly beautiful.' The Great Outdoors | 'Lyrical and elegiac, this debut is a tender account of an unusual fascination with the remaining snows of the Scottish Highlands. Nicholson offers us a wry, self-aware take on the relationship between humans and the changed (and changing) natural world.' Helen Mort, chair of Boardman Tasker Award judges | 'Made me laugh and cry within just a few pages... left me humbled as he revealed a range of other interconnected wonders I never knew about.' Books in Scotland | 'Destined to become a classic of mountain literature. Superb.' Chris Townsend, The Great Outdoors | 'His moving journey makes compelling reading. Occasionally amusing, seldom maudlin or self-pitying, and ultimately uplifting, this quest for meaning offers solace for anyone with a penchant for pondering the mysteries of life, love and loss during solitary wanderings through the wilderness.' Mark Sutcliffe, Countryfile

'A beautiful book about love and loss, fragility and chance, the wide world and the near world . . . full of intense light and colour, extraordinary glimpses, moving insights and subtle humour.' - Richard Kerridge, author of Cold Blood

Author Information

Christopher Nicholson was born in London in 1956. He lives in south-west England. His first novel, THE FATTEST MAN IN AMERICA, was published in 2005. THE ELEPHANT KEEPER, which followed in 2009, was shortlisted for the Costa Best Novel award and for the Encore Award. His third novel, WINTER, about the life of the elderly Thomas Hardy, was published in 2014. A non-fiction book, AMONG THE SUMMER SNOWS, was published in June 2017. A meditation on life and loss, it is organised around a series of walks to the great snow-beds that survive each summer in the Scottish mountains. It was shortlisted for the 2017 Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Writing, and is currently longlisted for the 2018 Highland Book Prize.

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