Kingdoms of Experience

Kingdoms of Experience
Published by Hutchinson on 1st September 1986

In March 1985, Mal Duff led a new expedition to conquer Everest by the unclimbed north-east ridge. The last attempt by a Chris Bonnington team had ended in failure and the tragic deaths of those two great climbers, Joe Tasker and Pete Boardman.

Everyone knew the risks as well as the excitement of the challenge. In this extraordinary book, shortlisted for the Boardman-Tasker Awards, Greig chronicles not only the assault on the peak but also the complex inter-relationships of nineteen very different individuals living together, yet each of them very much alone.

Andrew Greig is regarded as one of the leading poets of his generation and as a popular literary novelist. His previous climbing book, Summit Fever, also published by Canongate, was described as “one of the best expedition books so far…an excellent read” (The Climber). His latest novel, When they Lay Bare, is published by Faber & Faber.