A Deathful Ridge: A Novel of Everest - Softcover

Wainwright, J. A.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0889626502 ISBN 13: 9780889626508

Publisher: Mosaic Pr, 1997

Synopsis

A Deathful Ridge rewrites the life and myth of George Mallory, who disappeared with Andrew Irvine near the summit of Mount Everest in 1924. Mallory was the greatest climber of his generation, but also a Cambridge graduate and friend of Rupert Brooke, Lytton Strachey, Viginia Woolf, Robert graves, and others. he moved in cultural circles that were at the heart of critical reassessments of the old empire, but was known among his friends and associates as Galahad. He was elevated to the patheon of British heroes at his death. A Deathful Ridge has Mallory found alive on the upper slopes of Everest, insisting that he has killed his younger climbing companion. Those who represent the old order close around him to prevent public discovery of a fall far greater than any he could have had on the mountain. He is taken back secretly to Britain, where he lives in silence for another twenty-two years but keeps a journal. The narrator of the novel becomes caught up in stories about Mallory, official and unofficial, and about the vagaries of historical truths.

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Reviews

This first novel explores the myths surrounding the 1924 disappearance of the famous British mountain climber George Mallory. A confidant of many in the Bloomsbury group, who nicknamed him Galahad, Mallory disappeared with a young companion while attempting to climb Mt. Everest. Here the author fiddles with the facts and asks, What if Mallory had survived but killed his friend in a fit of anger at not reaching the summit? What if the other members of the team decided to hide him to protect not only his reputation and honor but also their own? In the mid-Nineties, a young climber meets the only survivor of the deception and hears the tale. The author attempts to delve into the character of the British public school graduates who saw their way of life largely disappear after World War I. The results can be lyrical, but there are too many gaps in the story to make it really satisfying. Recommended for large fiction collections only.?Kathleen Stevens, Fairfax Cty. P.L., Va.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Mosaic Pr
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0889626502
• ISBN 13: 9780889626508
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 138