'A story of adventure and war, of eccentricity and courage, of love and secrets and of the overwhelming urge one man had to climb the world's highest mountain.

A major feat of reporting and elegant storytelling' Patrick Radden Keefe, author of the Orwell Prize-winning Say Nothing Maurice Wilson is as rich and full of surprise and contradiction as a character in a novel, and through painstaking historical research, Caesar brings his hero back to vivid life in all his messy, inspiring, ultimately tragic glory.

'Ed Caesar has written a slim, ravishing chronicle that is absolutely bursting with life - doomed romance, the dread of the battlefield, the lure of adventure, hair-raising tales of amateur aviation, and, above all, the beauty and madness of the quest to ascend Earth's tallest summit. It is a fine, fine slice of history by a truly special writer who proves time and time again that he is among the best of his generation' Dan Jones, author of The Plantagenets This book deserves to be counted alongside Wade Davis' Into The Silence as one of the best ever written about the early attempts to conquer Everest. Ed Caesar deploys every ounce of his considerable journalistic skill as he uncovers the true story of a great British eccentric driven by forces he only partly understands to the ends of the earth. 'The Moth and the Mountain is a gorgeous and deeply affecting book: a tale of tragedy and obsession, pluck and luck, told at the pace of a thriller and bursting with heart. b In the 1930s, as official government expeditions set their sights on conquering Mount Everest, a little-known World War I veteran named Maurice Wilson conceives his own crazy, beautiful plan: he will fly a plane from England to Everest, crash-land on its lower slopes, then become the first person to reach its summitâ€”allī â€œAn outstanding book.â€? â€” i The Wall Street Journal i * â€œGripping at every turn.â€? â€” i Outside i * â€œA gem of a book.â€? â€” i The Guardian i * â€œA hell of a ride.â€? â€” i The Times i (London) b b An extraordinary true story about one manâ€™s attempt to salve the wounds of war and save his own soul through an audacious adventure.'A towering, tragic tale rescued from oblivion by Ed Caesar's magnificent writing' Dan Snow The Moth and the Mountain: A True Story of Love, War, and Everestī â€œAn outstanding book.â€? â€” i The Wall Street Journal i * â€œGripping at every turn.â€? â€” i Outside i * â€œA gem of a book.â€? â€” i The Guardian i * â€œA hell of a ride.â€? â€” i The Times i (London) b b An extraordinary true story about one manâ€™s attempt to salve the wounds of war and save his own soul through an audacious adventure.

The moth and the mountain