About the book
The view was colossal. Below us on every side mountain surged away it seemed forever; we looked down on glaciers and snow-covered peaks that perhaps no one has ever seen before, except from the air.’
Feeling restless in the world of London’s high-fashion industry, Eric Newby asked a friend to accompany him on a mountain-climbing expedition in the wild and remote Hindu Kush, in north-eastern Afghanistan. And so they went – although they did stop first for four days of climbing lessons in Wales – becoming the first Englishmen to visit this spectacular region for more than half a century. Newby’s frank and funny account of their expedition to what is still amongst the world’s most isolated areas is one of the classics of travel writing.
Reviewed by Kingsclere Reading Group:
A mixed response: some loved it, others found it a bit dull. Good discussion about the attitudes shown by writer to ethnic groups he met. Quality of his writing enjoyed. All pleased that we read a book we might otherwise have rejected.
Star rating: ***
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