Paths of Glory - Softcover

Jeffrey Archer

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0330504258 ISBN 13: 9780330504256

Publisher: Pan MacMillan, 2009

Synopsis

Some people have dreams that are so magnificent that if they were to achieve them, their place in history would be guaranteed.  People like Christopher Columbus, Isaac Newton, Florence Nightingale, Thomas Edison, Nancy Astor, Charles Lindbergh, Amy Johnson, Edmund Hilary and Neil Armstrong—their unparalleled success has made their stories into legend.  But what if one man had such a dream, and once he’d achieved it, there was no proof that he had fulfilled his ambition?

Jeffrey Archer’s new novel, Paths of Glory, is the story of such a man—George Mallory. Born in 1886, he was a brilliant student who became part of the Bloomsbury Group at Cambridge in the early twentieth century and served in the Royal Garrison Artillery during World War I. After the war, he married, had three children, and would have spent the rest of his life as a schoolteacher, but for his love of mountain climbing.

Mallory once told a reporter that he wanted to climb Mt. Everest, “because it is there.” On his third try in 1924, at age thirty-seven, he was last seen four hundred feet from the top. His body was found in 1999, and it remains a mystery whether he and his climbing partner, Andrew Irvine, ever reached the summit.

In fact, not until you’ve turned the last page of Archer’s extraordinary novel will you be able to decide if George Mallory should be added to that list of legends, while another name would have to be removed.  Paths of Glory is truly a triumph.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

A novel about one man’s extraordinary quest to climb Mt. Everest from the one writer who could bring such a towering, epic tale vividly to life

#1 New York Times bestselling author Jeffrey Archer

Some people have dreams that are so magnificent that if they were to achieve them, their place in history would be guaranteed. But what if one man had such a dream...and once he’d fulfilled it, there was no proof that he had achieved his ambition?

PATHS OF GLORY

This is the story of such a man: George Mallory. He once told an American reporter that he wanted to climb Mt. Everest “because it’s there.” On his third attempt in 1924, at age thirty-seven, he was last seen six hundred feet from the top. His body was found in 1999. And it still remains a mystery whether he ever reached the summit...

“There isn’t a better storyteller alive.”—Larry King

“A storyteller in the class of Alexandre Dumas.”—Washington Post

“Archer is a master entertainer.”—Time

About the Author:

Jeffrey Archer was educated at Oxford University. He has served five years in Britain’s House of Commons, fourteen years in the House of Lords, and two in Her Majesty’s prisons. All of his novels and short story collections--including A Prisoner of Birth, False Impression, and Sons of Fortune--have been international bestsellers. Archer is married with two children and lives in London and Cambridge. Roger Allam is a British actor who has worked extensively for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre, and in the West End. He played Javert in the original London production of Les Misérables, and Falstaff in the Shakespeare’s Globe 2010 production of Henry IV Parts 1 and 2. He has been nominated four times for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor, winning twice, and he has also won the Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actor. His film work includes roles in The Queen, Speed Racer, V for Vendetta, The Wind that Shakes the Barley, Tamara Drewe, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, and the television series The Thick of It.  Roger has narrated audiobooks for numerous bestselling authors, including Jeffrey Archer, Ian McEwan, Ian Rankin, and Joseph Conrad. In reviewing the audiobook version of Jeffrey Archer’s Paths of Glory, Publishers Weekly declared, “Veteran actor Roger Allam brings an impressive range and energy to Archer's historical novel.... Allam's remarkable accents are the highlight of the audio book.” Roger lives in south-west London with his actress wife, Rebecca Saire, and their two young sons.

About this edition

• Publisher: Pan MacMillan
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0330504258
• ISBN 13: 9780330504256
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 466