There are a few issues with idiom and usage of words (“write me” repeatedly instead of write TO me”, “gotten” instead of simply “got” etc.) but they aren’t enough to detract from the story or from the quality of the writing, and hopefully they’ll be ironed out for the UK edition which I think is due next year.

The novel actually reminded me a bit of Gillian Slovo’s ‘An Honourable Man” which also takes as its theme a real historical expedition (the attempt to rescue General Gordon at Khartoum) and alternates chapters set in the desert with chapters about a wife waiting for news in London. But while Slovo’s story failed for me to evoke the desert, didn’t breathe life into its historical characters, and crammed too many plot strands into the London sections (flaws typically associated with debut novels), it is to Rideout’s credit that her novel reads like something by an author on their third or fourth book.

The Canadian book is very well designed. A quick search says that this will not be published in the UK until spring 2013 — a shame because, while this is a “Canadian” book, I suspect it may have more of an audience in the UK.

As an aside, have you ever read Into Thin Air, a non-fiction account of climbing Everest, by Jon Krakauer? It’s a brilliant read.