Paths of Glory

This is one of the most amazing book I have ever read. So amazing that if it is true, which it can possibly be and probably is, it would remove one man’s name from history and replace it with another man’s name, who really truly deserves it. This is based on the true life story of George Mallory, a adventurer and mountaineer par excellence who in hope of paying homage to the Chomolungma, Goddess Mother of Earth (Mt. Everest) lead a climbing expedition twice on the treacherous slopes of the Himalaya. The book succeeds mainly because it contains real characters and appears very well researched on the life of the hero, who in fact died on the slopes of his Chomolunmga on that fateful day/night of June 1924. The novel starts with the prologue in 1999 when his body was actually found, 75 years later! To this day it is not known whether he actually reached the summit or not, 30 years before Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing. This is the exact question, which this novel attempts to answer. It cleverly weaves intricate plot details with actual history and chronicles the life of Mallory; his childhood, then his college days, his love for mountaineering, his whirlwind romance with Ruth Mallory, his days as a professor, his wartime heroics on the front during World War I and of course, his two Mt. Everest expeditions. The novel has a huge emotional connect and urges you to think about what must have gone on in the character’s minds. I would urge you to be part of the amazing journey of a man, who may possibly have been the first man to reach Mt. Everest’s summit, thirty years before it was actually conquered. This one will leave you asking for more.