High Caucasus: A Mountain Quest in Russia's Haunted Hinterland

In 2004, Tom Parfitt witnessed the Beslan school siege in Russia, which left him emotionally shredded. He turned to his love of walking to seek solace and understanding and embarked on a 1,000-mile quest through the Caucasus region. High Caucasus is a thrilling, profound masterpiece that explores the roots of violence in a region with tragic parallels to the Ukraine of today.

Format: Hardback
Length: 352 pages
Publication date: 20 July 2023
Publisher: Headline Publishing Group

High Caucasus is a thrilling, profound masterpiece by Nicholas Crane, one of our great travel writers. Luke Harding describes it as a travel book for our time, and Sara Wheeler praises it as a breath-taking memoir of Tom Parfitt's remarkable 1,000-mile walk through Russia's Caucasus region in search of solace and understanding after witnessing the Beslan school siege.
On September 1, 2004, Chechen and Ingush militants took more than a thousand people captive at a school in the Caucasus region of southern Russia. Working as a correspondent, Tom Parfitt witnessed the bloody climax in which 314 hostages died, more than half of them children. The experience left Tom emotionally shredded, struggling to find a way to return to his life in Moscow and put to rest the ghosts of the Beslan siege.
Having long been fascinated by the mountainous North Caucasus, Tom turned to his love of walking as a source of both recuperation and discovery. In High Caucasus, he shares his remarkable thousand-mile quest in search of personal peace and a greater understanding of the roots of violence in a region whose fate has tragic parallels with the Ukraine of today.
Starting his journey in Sochi on the Black Sea and walking the mountain ranges to Derbent, the ancient fortress city on the Caspian, Tom traverses the political, religious, and ethnic fault-lines of seven Russian republics, including Chechnya and Dagestan. Through bear-haunted forests, across high altitude pastures, and over the shoulders of Elbrus, Europe's highest mountain, he finds companionship and respite in the homes of proud, little-known peoples.
High Caucasus is a stunning memoir of confronting trauma through connection with history, people, and place. It is a testament to the power of human resilience and the importance of seeking solace and understanding in the face of adversity.

Weight: 610g
Dimension: 165 x 369 x 34 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781472294760