White by Rosie Thomas

 

 

• Audiotape: 2 tapes Abridged 3hrs listening
• Genre : Romantic Fiction
• Publisher: Random House Audiobooks 2000
• Source: From a selection I have languishing on shelves.
• Read By : Juliet Stevenson

 

I have been reading and enjoying the novels of Rosie Thomas for many years now although it is a few years since I last read one. I must rectify this as I have at least four of her most recent novels waiting to be read. It is the usual excuse, so many books so little time, but listening to White has revived my interest.  I had read this previously but decided to listen to the tapes before making them available on Bookmooch. Rosie Thomas is not only an author but a keen traveller and mountaineer which comes over in her writing, especially so in ‘White’ as it is about an expedition to climb Everest.

Her obvious knowledge of climbing adds to the reality of the story which set against the mountain backdrop, makes this novel much more than a complicated love story between the three protagonists. Sam McGrath whose chance encounter on a plane means he ends up in Nepal. Al Hood an experienced climber who has promised his daughter that this climb will be his last and Sam Finch who has signed up as an expedition doctor. Demons and dreams are played out against the dramatic backdrop of Everest.

I actually read this back in October 2007 before I started this blog, but I was already posting reviews on  Amazon, my review was  entitled  Passion and Drama.

This is what I had to say then “This title was actually published in 2000 and it has been sitting on my bookshelf for awhile as I was not sure I wanted to read it! However I have now got around to it and enjoyed much more than expected.
I actually know very little about mountaineering so found the detail fascinating. I do find it difficult to understand why people want to push their body to its limits and beyond though. The experiences of the climbers struggling to climb Everest in this story are horrendous.
I was particularly interested to read about Namche and the trek to Everest Base Camp, as I have a niece who as part of her travels is due to go there.
If you like a good romance with some drama thrown in, you cannot fail to enjoy this”.

 

 

Rosie Thomas was born and grew up in North Wales, although she now lives in London. She read English at Oxford, and after a spell in journalism and publishing began writing fiction after the birth of her first child. She has written a large number of novels, including the top ten bestsellers White, The Potter's House, Sun At Midnight, Iris and Ruby and Constance. Once she was established as a writer and her children were grown –up, she discovered a love of travelling and mountaineering. She has climbed in the Alps and the Himalayas, competed in the Peking to Paris car rally, and spent time on a tiny Bulgarian research station in Antarctica.

Biographical info courtesy of : -

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