Paths of Glory  (English, Paperback, Archer Jeffrey)

A riveting novel inspired by factual happenings in the 1900s, Paths Of Glory is about a man with two great loves, one of which ultimately leads to his untimely demise.

Summary Of The Book

Paths Of Glory is a fiction novel inspired by a true story. It speaks about the story of George Mallory, a British mountaineer, who was an integral part of the first three expeditions to climb Mount Everest in the early 1900s. In 1924, Mallory and Andrew Irvine attempted to scale the Himalayas using assisted oxygen. They were last seen on June 8th, 1924, about 600 feet from the top, until Mallory’s frozen body was discovered in 1999. Officially, there was no evidence that the duo climbed the peak successfully, but here’s where it gets intriguing.

Mallory claimed to have only two great loves, Mt. Everest, and his wife Ruth. He had promised that, in the event of him successfully climbing the peak, he would leave a photograph of his wife there to commemorate the occasion. However, when his surprisingly well-preserved body was discovered, there was no photograph of Ruth on him. Could they have been the first people to conquer Mt. Everest, a solid thirty years before Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, who were credited to be the first people to scale Mt. Everest in 1953?

The highly controversial content of this novel has been extracted from personal letters written by Mallory to his wife and the history of the early 1900s. This compelling book culminates with an open ending. The author leaves it up to the reader to decide whether Mallory was worthy of being recognized as the first man ever to conquer Mt. Everest.

About Jeffrey Archer

Jeffrey Archer is a British author, who was born in London and raised in Somerset. He has authored novels like A Prisoner of Birth, Sons of Fortune, The Prodigal Daughter, Kane and Abel, Honour Among Thieves and Shall We Tell The President?, as well as short stories like And Thereby Hangs a Tale, To Cut a Long Story Short, and A Quiver Full of Arrows.

Before becoming a novelist, Archer became a Member of Parliament at the age of 29 and resigned from the House of Commons five years later when a company he invested majorly in liquidated, leaving him on the verge of bankruptcy. Determined to repay every penny of his debt, he started writing his first ever novel Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less, which was such a booming success that it sold in over 17 countries within a year. Archer has long established himself as a master of the written word and a consummate storyteller. His written works have been published in 97 countries, have been translated into over 35 languages, and have sold over 250 million copies worldwide. He divides his time between London and Cambridge with his wife Mary Archer and their sons, James and William.