* A personal account of one of the greatest losses in the climbing world
* An elegant and gripping story of tragedy, as well as unexpected joy
* An entrée into the emotional world of climbers and their families
* Benefits the Nepal-based Khumbu Climbing School
In 1999 Jennifer Lowe's husband Alex Lowe died tragically in an avalanche on the Himalayan mountain Shishapangma, leaving her alone to raise three sons. Alex was widely considered one of the greatest modern climbers and the world mourned his loss -- Tom Brokaw did a one-hour special for Dateline, and Sting narrated and composed music for a tribute film.
While Jenni and her sons faced the absence of the most important man in their lives, Alex's best friend and longtime climbing partner, Conrad Anker, was dealing with the terrible loss as well as feelings of survivor's guilt. Jenni and Conrad gradually, and unexpectedly, found solace in one another and married in 2001 -- Conrad is now the adoptive father of the three Lowe children.
Through letters and expedition notes from Alex,
Forget Me Not spans continents and tells the story of three people whose lives intertwine to a degree they could never have imagined. Jenni's account takes readers inside a woman's heart and mind as she navigates her shattered life and survives, ultimately finding transformative love through her great loss. From the valleys of Montana to the peaks of the Himalayas, this never-before told story exposes the controversial yet ultimately redemptive power of love.
JENNIFER LOWE is
a successful visual artist and the founder of the Khumbu Climbing Center in
Nepal, now part of the Juniper Fund (https: //www.thejuniperfund.org).
Born in Missoula, Jennifer spent parts of her childhood working
in the fields of her grandparent's homesteaded property in Montana's
Grasshopper Valley. Lowe's paintings are rendered in the vivid color and rich
texture of livestock markers and capture the whimsical images from her
imagination and the memories of her Montana upbringing.
Lowe constructs her own frames and decorates them with a
folk-art quality--each of which carries an element of the painting that it is
made for--giving her finished work a unique character. Lowe's work has been
featured in 22 shows throughout the West, shown alongside such well-known
Western artists as Thom Ross, Howard Post, Larry Pirnie, and Donna Howell
Sickels. Her works' appeal has landed it in private collections of such
luminaries as Peter Fonda, Michael Keaton, Jeff Bridges, and Jerry Spence, as well
as in the corporate collections of Patagonia and Chronicle Books.
She lives in Bozeman, Montana.
JON KRAKAUER is an American writer and mountaineer, primarily known for his writing about the outdoors and mountain-climbing. He is the author of best-selling non-fiction books
Into the Wild,
Into Thin Air,
Under the Banner of Heaven, and
Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillmanas well as numerous magazine articles.
