The Man Who Married a Mountain [Paperback]

'An enthralling read.'

'A wonderful, gentle, deeply felt book.'

'A must-have for anyone who cannot resist the Sublime, the Picturesque and the Beautiful the region promises.'

Rosemary Bailey is the bestselling author of LIFE IN A POSTCARD, her enthralling account of living in a small village in the French Pyrenees. Now she sets off in search of The Man who Married a Mountain. The 19th century explorer and mountaineer, Henry Russell combined a wild Irish spirit and thirst for travel with a typically French attachment to his own region. He climbed every mountain and revelled in nature's extremes; fierce tempests, coruscating sun and dazzling snow. Vignemale, a mountain in the French Pyrenees, inspired his passion above all. In the course of her quest Rosemary Bailey finds not only Russell but an entire cast of 19th century visitors, striding up the glaciers in tweed jackets and hobnailed boots. English, Americans, Russians and many others, from Tennyson to James Gordon Bennett, colonised the Pyrenees as they did the Riviera, in search of the sublime, the picturesque and the beautiful Accompanied by her young son Theo, Bailey visits all the romantic sights of the Pyrenees between the gentle shores of the Mediterranean and the wild waves of the Atlantic; astonishing waterfalls, lakes and valleys Bailey weaves together Russell's story with her own experience of the Pyrenees, living in a converted monastery and sharing her life with the dreamers, hermits and city escapees who still find refuge in this magical land

Life in A Postcard was Rosemary Bailey’s bestselling memoir of living in a small village in the French Pyrenees. Now she sets off in search of the man who married a mountain. The nineteenth-century explorer and mountaineer, Henry Russell, combined a thirst for travel with a typically French attachment to his own region. He climbed every mountain in the Pyrenees and revelled in nature’s extremes; from fierce tempests to dazzling snow.  Vignemale, the highest mountain in the French Pyrenees, inspired his passion above all.

In the course of her quest Bailey finds not only Russell but a whole cast of nineteenth-century visitors, striding up the glaciers in tweed jackets and hobnailed boots. English, Americans, Russians and many others, from Tennyson to Flaubert, colonised the Pyrenees in search of the Sublime, the Picturesque and the Beautiful.

Accompanied by her young son Theo, Bailey visits all the romantic sights of the Pyrenees between the gentle shores of the Mediterranean and the wild waves of the Atlantic; discovering astonishing waterfalls, lakes and valleys.

Bailey weaves together Russell’s story with her own experience of the Pyrenees, living in a converted monastery and sharing her life with the dreamers, hermits and city escapees who still find refuge in this magical land. The Man who Married a Mountain is a celebration of the beauty and history of the Pyrenees, a wonderful way of life and some remarkable adventures.

Rosemary Bailey is the editor of three Insight guides to France and the project editor for the Dorling Kindersley Eyewitness guide to France. SCARLET RIBBONS, her book about her brother - an Anglican priest who died from AIDS in 1996 - was published by Serpent's Tail in 1997. She lives at Corbiac in the French Pyrenees with her partner, the biographer Barry Miles and their young son, Theo.