UK, 1989, 1st edition. 221 pp. Hardcover with dust jacket, Fine-New condition.
Winner of the Boardman Tasker Prize in 1989.
A novel of rock climbing in search of 'the perfect climb'. Retreating from his failed marriage to Pauline, Mike leaves London for the Yorkshire moors, where he meets Normal and his entourage, busy pursuing their own dreams of escape. Traveling from crag to crag throughout the country, they are searching for the unattainable: the perfect climb.
Through rock climbing Mike discovers an intensity of experience - a wash of pain, fear and excitement - that obliterates the rest of his world. Increasingly addicted to the adrenaline, folklore and camaraderie of the sport, he finds, for a time, a genuine escape. But it is gained at a price... This dark, witty and poetic novel is full of the rugged beauty of nature, of the human drive to test oneself against extremes, and of the elation such escape can bring.
