The Snow Tourist | Granta

  • Published: 05/10/2009
  • ISBN: 9781846270642
  • 129x20mm
  • 272 pages

The Snow Tourist

Charlie English

In this unique book, part eulogy, part history, part travelogue, Charlie English goes in search of the best snow on the planet. Along the way he explains the extraordinary hold this commonplace phenomenon has over us, and reveals the ongoing drama of our relationship with it. Combining on-the-slopes experience with off-piste research, Charlie English’s journey begins with the magical moment when his two-year-old son sees snow for the first time, before setting off in the footsteps of the Romantic poets over the Alps, following the sled-tracks of the Inuit across Greenland, and meeting up with a flurry of fellow enthusiasts, from snow-making scientists in Japan and global warming experts in California to plough drivers in Alaska.This is a book for anyone who reaches for their mittens at the sight of the first flake.

A wonder and a delight. The perfect winter book

Metro

An enchanting tale of one man's search for snow, a report on the precarious state of our extreme climates, an evocative poem to lost childhood winters: I was gripped, from the first flakes to the final thaw

Joanna Kavenna

This is a finely written and many-sided account of the fascination - both fearful and loving - that we have for snow. Charlie English deftly weaves together history, reportage, travelogue and memoir into a gentle, erudite and at times beautiful book

Robert Macfarlane

The Author

Charlie English is the deputy editor for the Saturday Guardian. The Snow Tourist is his first book.

More about the author →