Description

As the summer draws to a close, a few snowbeds – some as big as icebergs – survive in the Scottish Highlands. Christopher Nicholson’s Among the Summer Snows is both a celebration of these great, icy relics and an intensely personal meditation on their significance. A book to delight all those interested in mountains and snow, full of vivid description and anecdote, it explores the meanings of nature, beauty and mortality in the twenty-first century.

Publisher Review

'This is the kind of beautiful writing that transcends form - in this case nature writing - to arrive somewhere improbable and compelling.' Paul Evans, Guardian | 'A beautiful book about love and loss, fragility and chance, the wide world and the near world...full of intense light and colour, extraordinary glimpses, moving insights and subtle humour.' Richard Kerridge, author of Cold Blood | 'A ravishingly lovely book.' Keggie Carew author of Dadland | 'What shines through is a love of wild places without the need to conquer summits or tick lists. It is a love affair that is addictive ... and [Nicholson] expresses it in such a beautiful way in this unusual and evocative narrative.' Active Outdoors | 'A glorious little book, beautifully produced by an independent publisher.' The Telegraph | 'Haunting, moving, silent, and profoundly beautiful.' The Great Outdoors | 'Lyrical and elegiac, this debut is a tender account of an unusual fascination with the remaining snows of the Scottish Highlands. Nicholson offers us a wry, self-aware take on the relationship between humans and the changed (and changing) natural world.' Helen Mort, chair of Boardman Tasker Award judges | 'Made me laugh and cry within just a few pages... left me humbled as he revealed a range of other interconnected wonders I never knew about.' Books in Scotland | 'Destined to become a classic of mountain literature. Superb.' Chris Townsend, The Great Outdoors | 'His moving journey makes compelling reading. Occasionally amusing, seldom maudlin or self-pitying, and ultimately uplifting, this quest for meaning offers solace for anyone with a penchant for pondering the mysteries of life, love and loss during solitary wanderings through the wilderness.' Mark Sutcliffe, Countryfile