Description
Book SynopsisGuardian Books to Watch 2022
Evening Standard Books to Watch 2022
Bookseller Editor's Choice
'A wonderful book - exhilarating and taut, fearless in its explorations of wildness, risk, motherhood, and the inner and outer worlds of the writer' Jon McGregor
'This book is beautiful' Emma Jane Unsworth
Climbing gives you the illusion of being in control, just for a while, the tantalising sense of being able to stay one move ahead of death.
Helen Mort has always been drawn to the thrill and risk of climbing: the tension between human and rockface, and the climber's powerful connection to the elemental world. But when she becomes a mother for the first time, she finds herself re-examining her relationship with both the natural world and herself, as well as the way the world views women who aren't afraid to take risks.
A Line Above the Sky melds memoir and nature writing to ask why humans are drawn to danger, and how we can find freedom in pushing our limits. It is a visceral love letter to losing oneself in physicality, whether climbing a mountain or bringing a child into the world, and an unforgettable celebration of womanhood in all its forms.
Trade ReviewA gorgeous memoir all about the great outdoors and the impulse to go to our limits * Evening Standard *
This is a wonderful book - exhilarating and taut, fearless in its explorations of wildness, risk, motherhood, and the inner and outer worlds of the writer. It will make you want to get out into the mountains, and to get back home in one piece. A triumph. * Jon McGregor *
This book is beautiful. I could read Helen Mort all day long...The book sang to me on many levels. It's spirited, visceral, earthy, defiant...A book I will re-read, and talk about, and pass on. * Emma Jane Unsworth *
An intimate take on motherhood and self-dissolution, and the way mountains can come to fill the voids of a life * Economist *
Strong stuff, satisfying and intriguing to read -- Sarah Moss * Irish Times *
Deeply moving * New Statesman *
This is a book of the seen and unseen; on being alive; on being wild; on being a woman. This book is about being a woman - both seen and unseen - alive and wild - in a world that needs new words for every single part of this. And my oh my, how Mort writes those new words. * Caught by the River *
A candid and moving exploration of early motherhood...the writing is beautifully lyrical -- Sophie Windgate * The I *
