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Murder in the High Himalaya

On September 30, 2006 gunfire echoed through the thin air near Advance Base Camp on Cho Oyu Mountain. Frequented by thousands of climbers each year, Cho Oyu lies nineteen miles east of Mt. Everest on the border between Tibet and Nepal. To the elite mountaineering community, it offers a straightforward summit—a warm-up climb to her formidable sister. To Tibetans, Cho Oyu promises a gateway to freedom through a secret glacial path: the Nangpa La.

Murder in the High Himalaya is the unforgettable account of the brutal killing of Kelsang Namtso—a seventeen-year-old Tibetan nun fleeing to India—by Chinese border guards. Witnessed by dozens of Western climbers, Kelsang's death sparked an international debate over China's savage oppression of Tibet. Adventure reporter Jonathan Green has gained rare entrance into this shadow-land at the rooftop of the world. In his affecting portrait of modern Tibet, Green raises enduring questions about morality and the lengths we go to achieve freedom.

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Reviews

Reviews for Murder in the High Himalaya:

By personalising Namtso’s life and death, Mr Green has conjured in the flesh an otherwise anonymous figure from Tibet’s shadows.

– The Economist

...the core of this book is Kelsang’s murder and its implications, which Green, an experienced journalist, recounts vividly and with scrupulous attention to evidence

– Spectator

... a tale, spun wonderfully in Green’s morally ambiguous account... Who spoke out and who did not, and why, is at the heart of one of the most unsettling books of recent years.

– McCleans

Green’s steely, factually dense analysis of this unlawful conspiracy sheds light on a perennial human-rights crisis.

– Kirkus Reviews

A shattering tale that will appeal to readers of all things about Tibet, mountaineering, human rights and the preservation of cultural integrity.

– Shelf Awareness

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