Among the Summer Snows: In Search of Scotland's Last Snows

Shortlisted for the Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Literature Longlisted for the Highland Book Prize

'A beautiful book... full of intense light and colour, extraordinary glimpses, moving insights and subtle humour' Richard Kerridge, author of Cold Blood

As the summer draws to a close, a few snow beds - some as big as icebergs - survive in the Scottish Highlands. Christopher Nicholson celebrates these great, icy relics through a personal meditation on their significance. A book full of vivid descriptions and anecdotes, Among the Summer Snow explores the meanings of nature, beauty and mortality in the twenty-first century.

PRAISE FOR AMONG THE SUMMER SNOWS

'Beautiful writing that transcends form to arrive somewhere improbable and compelling' Paul Evans, Guardian

'A glorious little book, beautifully produced by an independent publisher' Telegraph

'This ravishingly lovely book is about thought-snow, summer snow, flight, falling, stillness, memory, loss, mountains, Time, death, survival and everything in between. It is an intense scrutiny of minute worlds, a roaming gaze into the vastness of space, intimate, introspective and questioning' 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

'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

'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

'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

'A startlingly beautiful book... Mortality, aesthetic beauty, deep time and loss are themes never far from the surface in this exquisitely written book... Among the Summer Snows is at once haunting, moving, silent, and profoundly beautiful' Alex Roddie, The Great Outdoors

'Beautifully written, it is both elegiac and optimistic, a meditation on life and death. The descriptions of the snow patches are wonderfully detailed, the determination involved in reaching them familiar to anyone who walks in the hills... Among the Summer Snows is, I think, destined to become a classic of mountain literature. Superb' Christopher Townsend, Outdoors.com

'It’s the story of a personal journey triggered partly by grief, but it’s also a study in what nature, and getting out into nature, means to us all. Nicholson’s writing on wildlife, flora and the mountain environment is detailed and immediate' Walkingworld.com

'Strange, beautiful, eerie and unique, this is the best mountain book I've read in years' Trail magazine

Christopher Nicholson was born in London in 1956, and has lived near Shaftesbury in Dorset for the past thirty years. His first novel, The Fattest Man in America, was published in 2005. The Elephant Keeper, which followed in 2009, was shortlisted for the Costa Best Novel award and for the Encore Award. His third novel, Winter, about the life of the elderly Thomas Hardy, was published in 2014. Among the Summer Snows was shortlisted for the 2017 Boardman Tasker Award for Mountain Writing and longlisted for the 2018 Highland Book Prize.