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The Living Mountain cover art

The Living Mountain

Written by: Nan Shepherd, Robert Macfarlane, Jeanette Winterson
Narrated by: Tilda Swinton, Robert MacFarlane, Jeanette Winterson
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Publisher's Summary

In this masterpiece of nature writing, beautifully narrated by Oscar-winning actress Tilda Swinton, Nan Shepherd describes her journeys into the Cairngorm mountains of Scotland. There she encounters a world that can be breathtakingly beautiful at times and shockingly harsh at others. Her intense, poetic prose explores and records the rocks, rivers, creatures and hidden aspects of this remarkable landscape.

Shepherd spent a lifetime in search of the ‘essential nature’ of the Cairngorms; her quest led her to write this classic meditation on the magnificence of mountains, and on our imaginative relationship with the wild world around us. Composed during the Second World War, the manuscript of The Living Mountain lay untouched for more than 30 years before it was finally published.

©2019 Nan Shepherd (P)2019 Canongate Books Ltd

What the critics say

"The finest book ever written on nature and landscape in Britain." (Guardian

"Reading [The Living Mountain] seems to me to explain why reading is so important. And odd. And necessary. And not like anything else. There is no substitute for reading." (Jeanette Winterson)

"Most works of mountain literature are written by men, and most of them focus on the goal of the summit. Nan Shepherd's aimless, sensual exploration of the Cairngorms is bracingly different." (Robert MacFarlane)

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A Celebration of the Familiar

Nan Shepherd spent a lifetime walking into the Cairngorms and despite their familiarity she came to understand that "knowledge never displaces mystery". She has a Buddhist way of appreciating the connectedness of all things including the physical presence of the mountain and the life that inhabits them. Tilda Swinton performs it beautifully, reading it simply without getting in the way of the words. I find myself listening to it repeatedly while I am walking the forest I live in and it has a very calming effect on me, encouraging me be more attentive and mindful to my surroundings. I have lived in a forest setting for over 40 years and I have struggled to express why I have so enjoyed the way the area has slowly evolved as has my relation to it. Nan has given me a language to understand this. It is not really necessary to listen to it in any chronological way as it is not a story but a variety of ways of looking at the same thing through different lenses.
The forward by Robert MacFarlane is a bit academic but does bring some insights into to Nan Shepherd's life and place this book in its place in Outdoor Literature. Jeanette Winterson's contribution is more a celebration of reading than focused on this particular book but is insightful as well.

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