A Line Above the Sky
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A Line Above the Sky by Helen Mort
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.
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 *
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 *
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.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781529107791 |
| ISBN 10 | 1529107792 |
| Title | A Line Above the Sky |
| Author | Helen Mort |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Ebury Publishing |
| Year published | 2023-04-13 |
| Number of pages | 288 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |