The Mountain Story - Hardcover

""The Mountain Story" is an expertly crafted novel about how ordinary lives can be changed by an extraordinary mountain. If climbing speaks to how we can find truth and beauty in hardship, Lansens shows that it is also a way to see inside our souls. This is a survival story with a strong, beating heart. I loved this novel."--Claire Cameron "Bestselling author of THE BEAR "

"An adventure that pits spectacular danger in the present against the ever-present danger of the past."--Marina Endicott, author of Good to a Fault

"A riveting novel of heartbreak, heroism, and redemption. . .[with] equal measures of high drama and humanity that will keep readers spellbound until the last word."--Carol Shaben, author of Into the Abyss

""The Mountain Story" isa gritty, nail-biting tale of survival and self-revelation. Lori Lansens' lushand potent landscape is painted as vividly as her characters, whose afternoonnature walk becomes a terrifying trek to the very precipice of mortality.Pitted against the impartial elements and their own inner demons, four soulsdiscover that shared humanity is their only dependable lifeline."--Carol Cassella, bestselling author of Gemini

"The Mountain Story" is an expertly crafted novel about how ordinary lives can be changed by an extraordinary mountain. If climbing speaks to how we can find truth and beauty in hardship, Lansens shows that it is also a way to see inside our souls. This is a survival story with a strong, beating heart. I loved this novel. --Claire Cameron "Bestselling author of THE BEAR ""

"Lori Lansens has created a heart-pounder of a book that is every bit as much of an emotional roller-coaster as an adventurous one. Filled with richly drawn characters, unexpected twists, and gritty details about survival, you'll want to read this right now. Unless, that is, you happen to be camping!"--Jodi Picoult

At last an adventure story where everyone is not supremely competent. At last a wilderness story which because it s fiction has an actual arc and not just a series of encounters. Wolf is one of the most incredible voices I ve come across in fiction recently and his trailer park environment is stunningly described; at once as absurd as farce and yet hauntingly real. On the mountain, bad judgment and bad luck are the order of the day and your heart will be in your throat as the inevitability of death draws ever closer to one young man and three generations of city women lost in a very real and dangerous mountain wilderness. You may think twice about piling the kids in the car for your next hike! --Helen Simonson, author of Major Pettigrew's Last Stand"

Four hikers get lost on a mountain, struggling desperately to stay alive, and it s all as chilling and gorgeous and full of suspense as a cracking line of ice on a frozen lake. A breathtaking look at how the past footholds the future and how even the bleakest terror can find its way to unfathomable beauty.
""--Caroline Leavitt, New York Times Bestselling Author of Is This Tomorrow and Pictures of You"

"The Mountain Story is an expertly crafted novel about how ordinary lives can be changed by an extraordinary mountain. If climbing speaks to how we can find truth and beauty in hardship, Lansens shows that it is also a way to see inside our souls. This is a survival story with a strong, beating heart. I loved this novel."--Claire Cameron "Bestselling author of THE BEAR "

"The Mountain Story isa gritty, nail-biting tale of survival and self-revelation. Lori Lansens' lushand potent landscape is painted as vividly as her characters, whose afternoonnature walk becomes a terrifying trek to the very precipice of mortality.Pitted against the impartial elements and their own inner demons, four soulsdiscover that shared humanity is their only dependable lifeline."--Carol Cassella, bestselling author of Gemini

Four lost hikers are about to discover they’re capable of something extraordinary.

Nola has gone up the mountain to commemorate her wedding anniversary, the first since her beloved husband passed. Blonde, stick-thin Bridget is training for a triathalon. Vonn is working out her teenage rebellion at eight thousand feet, driven by family obligation and the urge to escape her mistakes. Still reeling from the tragic accident that robbed him of his best friend, Wolf Truly is the only experienced hiker among them, but he has come to the cliffs on his eighteenth birthday without food or supplies because he plans to take his own life.

When a series of missteps strands this unusual group together in the wilderness, they soon realize that their only defense against the brutality of nature is one another. As one day without rescue spirals dramatically into the next, and misadventure turns to nightmare, these four broken souls begin to form an inextricable bond, pushing themselves and one another further than they ever could have dreamed possible. The three who make it home alive will be forever changed by their harrowing days on the mountain.

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Girls, The Mountain Story is a fast-paced, suspenseful adventure and a gorgeous tribute to the resilience of the human spirit. Braving a landscape both unforgivingly harsh and breathtakingly beautiful, Nola, Bridget, Vonn, and Wolf find themselves faced with an impossible question: How much will they sacrifice for a stranger?