WINNER OF THE TELEGRAPH BEST SPORTS WRITING AWARD 2021

SHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA BIOGRAPHY AWARD 2021

"One of the finest books ever written about the first attempts to conquer Everest. An exceptional piece of history from a truly distinctive author who proves again and again that he is among the best of his generation" - Dan Jones, author of The Plantagenets.

"A minor classic of the biographical art" - Sunday Times.

In the 1930s, as official government expeditions focused on Everest, a little-known World War I veteran, Maurice Wilson, devised his own mad, beautiful plan: he would fly a Gipsy Moth plane from England to Everest, land on its lower slopes, and then become the first person to reach the summit—all entirely on his own. Wilson did not know how to climb. He struggled to fly. But he had courage, daring, and a vision—he wanted to be the first to stand on the top of the world.

Maurice Wilson is a man who has been erased from the history books—dismissed as a crank and a fraud by many, yet appreciated by global mountain conquerors like Reinhold Messner. "The Moth and the Mountain" restores him to his rightful place in the history of Everest and attempts to answer that eternal question—why do we climb mountains?

"A compelling, tragic story rescued from obscurity by Ed Caesar's wonderful writing" - Dan Snow.

"This mad adventure is an incredible experience" - The Times.

"It's hard to imagine a better tribute to one of Everest's forgotten heroes" - Elizabeth Day.

Pages: 288, Dimensions: 12.9x12.9 cm.