A Line Above the Sky
On Mountains and Motherhood
Published on 24. March 2022
288 pages
978-1-4735-8297-2 (ISBN)
Description
Guardian Books to Watch 2022
Evening Standard Books to Watch 2022
Bookseller Editor's Choice
Winner of the Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature
'A wonderful book - exhilarating and taut, fearless in its explorations of wildness, risk, motherhood, and the inner and outer worlds of the writer' Jon McGregor
'This book is beautiful' Emma Jane Unsworth
'Climbing gives you the illusion of being in control, just for a while, the tantalising sense of being able to stay one move ahead of death'
As a child, Helen Mort was drawn to the thrill and risk of climbing, the tension between human and rockface, and the climber's need to be hyperaware of the sensory world - to feel the texture of rock under their fingers, how their crampons bite into the ice, the subtle shifts in weather. But when she becomes a mother for the first time, she finds herself re-examining this most elemental of disciplines, and the way that we view women who put themselves in danger.
Written by one of Britain's most talented young writers, A Line Above the Sky melds memoir and nature writing to create what will surely become a classic of the genre; it asks why humans are compelled to climb and poses other, deeper questions about self, motherhood and freedom. It is a love letter to losing oneself in physicality, whether that in the risk of climbing a granite wall solo, without ropes, or the intensity of bringing a child into the world.
Evening Standard Books to Watch 2022
Bookseller Editor's Choice
Winner of the Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature
'A wonderful book - exhilarating and taut, fearless in its explorations of wildness, risk, motherhood, and the inner and outer worlds of the writer' Jon McGregor
'This book is beautiful' Emma Jane Unsworth
'Climbing gives you the illusion of being in control, just for a while, the tantalising sense of being able to stay one move ahead of death'
As a child, Helen Mort was drawn to the thrill and risk of climbing, the tension between human and rockface, and the climber's need to be hyperaware of the sensory world - to feel the texture of rock under their fingers, how their crampons bite into the ice, the subtle shifts in weather. But when she becomes a mother for the first time, she finds herself re-examining this most elemental of disciplines, and the way that we view women who put themselves in danger.
Written by one of Britain's most talented young writers, A Line Above the Sky melds memoir and nature writing to create what will surely become a classic of the genre; it asks why humans are compelled to climb and poses other, deeper questions about self, motherhood and freedom. It is a love letter to losing oneself in physicality, whether that in the risk of climbing a granite wall solo, without ropes, or the intensity of bringing a child into the world.
Reviews / Votes
A gorgeous memoir all about the great outdoors and the impulse to go to our limits * Evening Standard * Strong stuff, satisfying and intriguing to read * Sarah Moss * A candid and moving exploration of early motherhood...the writing is beautifully lyrical * The I * This is a book of the seen and unseen; on being alive; on being wild; on being a woman. This book is about being a woman - both seen and unseen - alive and wild - in a world that needs new words for every single part of this. And my oh my, how Mort writes those new words. * Caught By the River * An intimate take on motherhood and self-dissolution, and the way mountains can come to fill the voids of a life. * Economist *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Ebury Publishing
File size
1,04 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-4735-8297-2 (9781473582972)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
04/2023
Ebury Press
€14.00
Shipment within 3-4 weeks
Person
Helen Mort has published three collections of poetry: Division Street (2013), winner of the Fenton Aldeburgh First Collection Prize, No Map Could Show Them (2016) and The Illustrated Woman (2022). Her poetry has been shortlisted for the Forward, T. S. Eliot and Costa Prizes. She has written a novel, Black Car Burning (2019) and a short story collection, Exire (2019). Her creative non-fiction includes A Line Above The Sky (2022), winner of the Boardman Tasker Award, and Ethel (2024). She is a Professor in Creative Writing at Manchester Metropolitan University and lives in Sheffield.
