The Living Mountain Audiobook By Nan Shepherd, Robert Macfarlane, Jeanette Winterson cover art

The Living Mountain

A Celebration of the Cairngorm Mountains of Scotland

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The Living Mountain

By: Nan Shepherd, Robert Macfarlane, Jeanette Winterson
Narrated by: Tilda Swinton, Robert MacFarlane, Jeanette Winterson
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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 Anthologies & Short Stories Family Life Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Nature & Ecology Outdoors & Nature Science Short Stories

Critic reviews

"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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The Living Mountain Audiobook By Nan Shepherd cover art
The Living Mountain By: Nan Shepherd
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So enjoyable, almost felt like I was swimming in it.
Recommend unequivocally if you like words, mountains, and ideas.

Beautiful prose crisply read

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I found this book through Robert MacFarlane’s work - and was mesmerized by it. This is nature writing at its absolute finest: memorable descriptive passages mingle with bracing philosophical observations. To think that the manuscript sat for three decades in a drawer, until it was discovered and finally published! This is a book to savor, and to treasure.

Exquisite writing, glorious delivery

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I loved everything, the story, the narrator, the postscripts and Robert MacFarlane’s essay. The imagery of the abundant life in the Cairngorns came alive.

Tilda Swinton’s narration of this precious book is exquisite, full of feeling.

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Someone on Twitter mentioned Robert MacFarlane, so I’ve been listening to his books and stumbled onto this one. Absolutely stunning, sublime, beautiful, and rich. Swinton is a wonderful narrator. Can’t wait to listen again.

Absolutely stunning

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excellent book content. too intense and interesting to describe. lovely. exceptional, phenomenal!! deep with feeling.

readers voice, intent and inflection all perfect!!

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