This is a multi-generational saga, starting with "Sir A" one of the founding members of the British Alpine Club; over the next 100 years, all the action takes place at the summer compound (Arete) overlooking the Hext valley, near Chamonix. Climbing and hiking are tangential; the central focus are the mountains and the relationships between the Upper class English (in the patois referred to as the "rostbifs"), and the peasant guides and house staff (the women are referred to as "the uglies"). Enclosed below is an excerpt from the book review in the 2017 edition of the Alpine Club (page 376).
The Valentine House
Emma Henderson
Sceptre, 2017, pp338, £18
This is a novel in love with place. From the lascivious descriptions of the French Alps in the startling open pages to the lingering evocations of the high farms and pastures of Haute Savoie, it is clear Henderson relishes these landscapes. It is in Arete, the Valentine mountain holiday retreat that a story spanning a century plays out.
Posts
