Mysterium by Susan Froderberg: book review

Mysterium: A Novel (2018) is fiction, not fact, but it is based upon the true story of a 22-year-old American woman, Nanda Devi Unsoeld, and her 1976 mountain climb on her namesake mountain, the Nanda Devi.

The story begins with Sarasvati (Sara) Troy who is about to climb a mountain with her father. She is climbing Mount Mysterium, otherwise known as Mount Sarasvati in the Indian Himalayas, to honour her mother who died mountaineering when Sara was seven years old. Sara’s father, Professor Stuart Troy, is a celebrated mountaineer too, and he is leading the expedition of eight climbers, with Indian sherpas and porters.

The climbing fraternity and sorority is a small community, where everyone knows of each other’s heaven and hell. Vida and Wilder Carson, Virgil and Hillary Adams – married couples on the team. Was that a good idea? And Vida was Arun’s former lover! Before they begin, this is already a topic of debate.

There isn’t a more honoured climber than Virgil Adams, and Wilder Carson is their strongest climber. But each of the climbers have their own aspirations and demons. The Professor has visions of his wife, falling, falling to her death. Dr Arun Reddy’s wife and Devin Reddy’s mother has recently died too and so too has Wilder Carson’s brother.

They are all on the expedition because of Sara’s obsession with the mountain and her mother, until Hillary is forced to return to the village. Her husband Virgil writes love letters to her, which provide insight into his thinking throughout the expedition.

Between them, they have a ‘mountain of experience’ - but is this enough for success against the ‘razory’ wind and the weather, frostbite, altitude sickness, and the perilous ascent to the summit?

The description of the mountain and the scenery is fascinating, but the characters fail to engage me, and the trek itself fails to hold my attention.

MARTINA NICOLLSis an international aid and development consultant, and the authorof:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom(2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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