by Simon Mawer
First published 2004
Rob and Jamie grew up as inseparable friends in the Welsh hills, united by their passion for mountain climbing. Four decades later, Jamie plunges to his death during a reckless ascent. Rob travels back to their childhood landscape to make sense of the tragedy. The return forces him to confront decisions from his past that still torment him. As Rob investigates the circumstances surrounding Jamie's fatal accident, he uncovers decades of deception and betrayal. The mysteries he discovers about Jamie's hidden life lead him toward startling revelations about his own mother and her experiences in London before and after World War II. What began as grief over a friend's death becomes a reckoning with family secrets that have shaped Rob's entire existence.
Genres: fiction, 20th-century, adventure, mystery, 21st-century, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: deception, unreliable-narrator
Setting: London, Wales
Period: World War II
415 pages · Paperback · Cargo