Above All Things by Tanis Rideout

Description

Above All Things is a heart-wrenching historical novel by Tanis Rideout, based on British mountaineer George Mallory’s fatal attempt to climb Everest, and his wife Ruth, who is left at home, waiting for him to return to her.

In the Himalayas two climbers strike out for the summit of the Earth’s highest mountain – aiming to be the first to the top, and reclaim a little of Britain’s lost glory. In Cambridge, a wife collects the milk, gets three children out of bed and waits for a letter, a telegram for news of her husband.

It is 1924 and after months of setbacks and failures, George Mallory and Andrew “Sandy” Irvine are attempting to be the first to conquer Everest. Alone on the mountain they struggle against inhuman cold, violent winds, thin air – but climbing, putting one foot falteringly after another, they reach for the cloud-shrouded peak. At home Ruth Mallory goes about her day; visiting friends and comforting children she longs for news of George.

A powerful, moving story of a husband driven to extraordinary lengths by his ambition and a wife terrified she will lose him to a cruel and pitiless rival, Above All Things is a timeless story of one of the great tragedies – and love stories – of the last century.