London, 1961, 1st UK edition. 239 pp. Very nice hardcover and dust jacket. Fine. Neate X136.
Famous mountaineering novel. Few writers have a greater gift than M. Frison-Roche for portraying the jealously guarded intimacy of life in an Alpine village, or for conveying the fascination exerted by great mountain peaks.
Brigitte, widow of Zian the guide, returns to Chamonix to bear his child; but the young Parisienne is ostracized by the villagers, who bitterly resent the intrusion of this 'foreigner'. The main theme of Return to the Mountains is the gradual acceptance of Brigitte, first by Zian's family, and after many painful rebuffs, by the Chamonix guides.