The Beckoning Silence

Description

Joe Simpson has experienced a life filled with adventure, but marred by death. He has endured the painful attrition of climbing friends in accidents, which call into question the perilously exhilarating activity to which he has devoted his whole life. Probability is inexorably closing in. The tragic loss of a close friend forces a momentous decision on him - it is time to turn his back on the mountains that he has loved. Never more alive than when most at risk, he has come to see a last climb on the hooded, mile-high North face of the Eiger as the cathartic finale to his climbing career.

Reviews

"Simpson writes better on the darker side of mountaineering than any man alive." - "The Times" "Grippingly told...there is no question Simpson is a brilliant adventure writer. There are passages that had my heart racing...his descriptions of the inner uncertainties that dog the climber are among the most convincing I have ever read." - "Observer" "The thrilling way in which Simpson recounts the storm that hits them and the difficult aftermath is as racy as any adventure novel." - "Sunday Express" "Praise for "Touching the Void": "Not just a book about mountaineering... It is about the spirit of man and the life force that drives us all." - Magnus Magnusson, presenting the NCR Award "On every level... an outstanding literary achievement." - Jim Perrin, "Independent "Simpson writes better on the darker side of mountaineering than any man alive." - "The Times"

Author description

Joe Simpson is the author of several best-selling books, of which the first,Touching the Void, won both the NCR award and the Boardman Tasker Award. His later books are This Game of Ghosts - the sequel to Touching theVoid -, Storms of Silence, Dark Shadows Falling, The Beckoning Silence and one previous novel, The Water People.