High: A Journey Across the Himalayas Through Pakistan, India, Bhutan, Nepal and China

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Description

An ambitious and magnificent new travelogue by internationally bestselling, prizewinning writer Erika Fatland.

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

Reviews

Enchanting -- Martin Chilton * Independent (Books of the Month) *
Erika Fatland is shaping up to be one of the Nordics' most exciting new travel writers * National Geographic *
Fatland is a sensitive and insightful chronicler of quotidian lives and a compelling narrator. -- Hannah Beckerman * Observer *
An engaging snapshot of the current residents of this high-altitude battleground . . . Fatland is a lovely writer with a sympathetic eye for the absurd, who draws affectionate pen portraits of the people she meets -- Amy Kazmin * Financial Times *
[Fatland] is an acute and sympathetic observer, and her book fills a gap in the literature of the Himalayas . . . In High, women's stories and voices prevail. -- Jonathan Buckley * Times Literary Supplement *
Norwegian anthropologist Erika Fatland, whose previous books include Sovietistan, distinguishes herself from the stereotypes . . . Writing with aplomb and sensitivity, Fatland observes the sights and sounds of cities, towns and villages; she visits temples and forests and explores the high plateau. Places are carefully contextualised with geopolitical and historical detail and she weaves in geology too, grounding the work in the land itself . . . [a]s traveller and anthropologist, [she] establishes a unique rapport with girls and women leading to precious insights into lives rarely recorded. -- Anna Fleming * Guardian *
The true allure of Ms. Fatland's book lies in her ability to reach inside people's homes and talk to women who lead sequestered lives, to penetrate the outer sanctum that separates Muslim women from a world that imperils female honor. As an outgoing 39-year-old woman, Ms. Fatland can have conversations that a man like Colin Thubron, celebrated for his writings on these parts, could scarcely have had. -- Tunku Varadarajan * Wall Street Journal *
Erika Fatland has written a masterpiece . . . Along the way Fatland has developed her own distinct approach to travel writing. She now writes better than Robert D Kaplan * Aftenposten *
Even the reader gasps for breath * Adressavisen *
Fatland's extensive knowledge subtly forms an elegant backdrop for her encounters with the local people * Morgenbladet *
Erika Fatland is about to, singlehandedly, completely renew Norwegian travel literature. * VG *
Respect. Erika Fatland can travel, she can write. HYT is a brilliant book. * Politiken *
Genre-bursting world-class travel literature. Brilliantly executed deep-dive into the human conditions in some of the world's most important countries. -- Jens A. Riisns
Fatland has risen to new literary and literal heights * Dagbladet *

Author Bio

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 Utoya 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 Stanfords Dolman Travel Book of the Year 2020. She speaks eight languages and lives in Oslo with her husband.