Our Book of the Month for September 2022 is High: A Journey Across the Himalayas Through Pakistan, India, Bhutan, Nepal and China by Erika Fatland, translated by Kari Dickson.
An ambitious and magnificent new travelogue by internationally bestselling, prizewinning writer Erika Fatland, on a journey along the Himalayas.
The Himalayas meander for more than two thousand kilometres through many different countries, from Pakistan to Myanmar via Nepal, India, Tibet and Bhutan, where the world religions of Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism are interspersed with ancient shamanic beliefs. Countless languages and vastly different cultures exist in these isolated mountain valleys. Modernity and tradition collide, while the great powers fight for influence.
We have read about climbers and adventurers on their way up Mount Everest, and about travellers on a spiritual quest to remote Buddhist monasteries. Here, however, the focus is on the communities of these Himalayan valleys, those who live and work in this extraordinary region. As Erika Fatland introduces us to the people she meets along her journey, and in particular the women, she takes us on a vivid and dizzying expedition at altitude through incredible landscapes and dramatic, unknown histories. Skilfully weaving together the politics, geography, astrology, theology and ecology of this vast region, she also explores some of the most volatile human conflicts of our times.
With her unique gift for listening, and for storytelling, she has become one of the most exciting travel writers of her generation.
Translated from the Norwegian by Kari Dickson.
High: A Journey Across the Himalayas Through Pakistan, India, Bhutan, Nepal and China is available now for £30.
Watch Erika Fatland introduce High:
Author Biography
Erika Fatland was born in 1983 and studied Social Anthropology at the University of Oslo. Her 2011 book, The Village of Angels, was an in situ report on the Beslan terror attacks of 2004 and she is also the author of The Year Without Summer, describing the harrowing year that followed the massacre on Utøya in 2011. For Sovietistan (2019) she was shortlisted for the Edward Stanford/Lonely Planet Debut Travel Writer of the Year, and The Border (2020) was shortlisted for the Stanford Dolman Travel Book of the Year 2021. She speaks eight languages and lives in Oslo with her husband.
STANFORDS IN STORE EVENT
Join us on Thursday 6th October 19:00 at Stanfords, Covent Garden as we welcome Erika Fatland to talk about her new book High. Tickets available here.