Frozen River: Seeking Silence in the Himalaya

The Frozen River is a powerful and evocative book that offers a unique perspective on life in the Northern Himalaya.
The Frozen River is a powerful and evocative book that offers a unique perspective on life in the Northern Himalaya, where author James Crowden lived among the Zangskari people before the arrival of roads and mass tourism.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 352 pages
Publication date: 29 October 2020
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

The Frozen River is a captivating work of luminous writing by Mark Cocker, published in 2009. In 1976, James Crowden, a former British army officer, embarked on a journey to Ladakh, a remote region in the Northern Himalaya. The author's extraordinary account of his time in Ladakh, living alongside the Zangskari people, before the advent of roads and mass tourism, is documented in his book.

James immerses himself fully in the Zangskari way of life, where meditation and week-long mountain festivals are intertwined, and silence and solitude are the defining characteristics of existence. When he is invited by butter traders to journey down the frozen river Leh, he quickly realizes that this centuries-old way of life comes with a profound human cost.

In lyrical prose, James captures a pivotal moment in the history of the Himalayan community. At this time, their Buddhist practices and traditions are undergoing a transformative process, and the economic allure of a world beyond their valley is becoming increasingly difficult to resist. The Frozen River offers a profound insight into the lives of the Zangskari people and their struggle to maintain their way of life in the face of changing circumstances.

Weight: 266g
Dimension: 129 x 196 x 24 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780008353216