It is rich in atmosphere, the environment stunningly described. Kangchenjunga is a formidable character in its own right and it is a deadly one. but it is also such a satisfying ghost story, so perfect for these darker evenings, and it is wrapped within a beautifully told and sad tale. Thin Air succeeds as an excellent ghost story and horror novel but it is also a wonderful piece of historical fiction and I thoroughly recommend it. FOR WINTER NIGHTS blog Thin Air by Michelle Paver is a ghost story that takes place over the course of a British expedition to reach the summit of Kangchenjunga in the 1930s. The narrator, Stephen, is part of a small team of British climbers led by his older brother Kits, with whom he has little in common. Stephen is also the team's doctor, and the team is supported by a large contingent of Sherpas who act as porters and guides - and indeed, without whom the expedition wouldn't be possible at all, although you wouldn't guess this from the patronising, dismissive and outright racist attitudes of the British climbers

Thin Air by Michelle Paver (9781409163367/Paperback

LoveReading exists because books change lives, and buying books through LoveReading means you get to change the lives of future generations, with 25% of the cover price donated to schools in need. Join our community to get personalised book suggestions, extracts straight to your inbox, 10% off RRPs, and to change children’s lives.Paver constructs her narrative expertly. The human drama is engaging, while the scares are unfurled slowly but surely, to chilling effect. * CATHOLIC HERALD * All mountains are killers, but ours is worse than most," says Stephen, the protagonist of Thin Air as he climbs Kangchenjunga, the sacred mountain in the Himalayas. A tightly wrought tale that keeps the reader wondering to the end whether the terror is merely psychological, or if there is in fact something dark haunting the slopes of Kangchenjunga. I cannot recommend this book enough. If you enjoyed Michelle's previous ghost story, Dark Matter, you'll love this one. If you love anything supernatural, a bit scary, ghostly, then you'll enjoy it too. It's a fantastic read thats absorbing and totally paralysing. Beautifully, lyrically written. A five star read if ever there was one! * EMPIRE OF BOOKS *

Dark Matter: the gripping ghost story from the author of Dark Matter: the gripping ghost story from the author of

Following Lyell’s route are Kits, Stephen, Major Cotterell, McLellan and Garrard – Kit’s best friend. Despite Captain Tennant’s request that they do not follow the same route up the South-West face, the party ignore his plea and continue as planned. Dr Pearce finds the jungle oppressive and dislikes the superstition and fear which surrounds the mountain. However, it is once they begin the climb that his unsettled feelings gradually turn to fear. Is he imagining things, or is there something - or someone - on the mountain, that is watching them?Ghosts - or fictional ones, at least - tend to haunt inhabited places, whether houses, churches, castles or hospital wards. So used are we to the traditions of the genre that a description of a decrepit mansion full of dark corners and unexplained creaks is enough to raise in us readers expectations of phantoms and ghouls. In this regard, Michelle Paver's "Thin Air" - much like its predecessor Dark Matter - is not your typical ghostly tale since it is the very remoteness of the haunted spaces which makes the setting particularly eerie. The context of "Thin Air" is a 1935 expedition to the summit of the Kangchenjunga in the Himalayas, the third highest peak in the world. A team of five Englishmen, including narrator Stephen Pearce and his brother "Kits", set off in the footsteps of a disastrous 1907 expedition, made famous through the memoirs of its leader Edmund Lyell. It turns out, however, that Lyell's memoirs might have left out some of the more unsavoury details of that doomed attempt, as our intrepid protagonists will discover to their dismay. Indeed, memories and relics of the Lyell expedition seem to cast a pall over the new climb.