Every Lost Country

by Steven Heighton

“The longer you stare at the mountain, the more it seems a refuge above human borders and distinctions and this constant dialogue of violence. Up there, he’d hoped, he and Sophie could step away from trouble for a while.”
 
Lewis Book, a doctor with a history of embroiling himself in conflicts, and his daughter, Sophie, travel to Nepal to join a climbing expedition. One evening, as Sophie sits on the border between China and Nepal, watching the sun set over the Himalayas, she spots a group of Tibetan refugees fleeing from Chinese soldiers. When shooting starts, Dr. Book rushes toward the ensuing melee, ignoring the objections of Lawson, the expedition leader, who doesn’t want to get involved and spoil his chance to be the first climber to summit Kyatruk. Lawson is further enraged when Amaris, a Chinese-Canadian filmmaker recording the expedition, joins Book with her camcorder in hand. When the surviving Tibetans are captured just short of the border, Lawson and Sophie look on helplessly as Book and Amaris are taken away with them, down the glacier into China. From that point, Lawson continues his ascent, and the fugitives are caught in an explosive and thrilling pursuit that will test their convictions, courage, and endurance.

From one of Canada’s finest writers comes a literary page-turner of the highest order. Inspired by an actual event, Every Lost Country is a gripping novel about heroism, human failings, and what love requires. When is it acceptable to be a bystander, and when do life and loyalty demand more?


From the Hardcover edition.

Genres: Fiction, Asia, Canada, Literature, Historical Fiction, China, Adventure

352 pages, Paperback

First published May 4, 2010

About the author

Steven Heighton (born August 14, 1961) is a Canadian novelist, short story writer and poet. He is the author of ten books, including two short story collections, three novels, and five poetry collections.[1] His most recent novel, Every Lost Country, was published in 2010.

Heighton was born in Toronto, Ontario, and earned a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degree, at Queens University.[2]

Heighton's most recent books are the novel Every Lost Country (May 2010) [3] and the poetry collection Patient Frame (April 2010).[4]

Heighton is also the author of the novel Afterlands (2006),which appeared in six countries.[5] The book has recently been optioned for film. Steven Heighton's debut novel, The Shadow Boxer (2001), a story about a young poet-boxer and his struggles growing up, also appeared in five countries.[6]

His work has been translated into ten languages and widely anthologised.[7] His books have been nominated for the Governor General’s Award, the Trillium Award, the Journey Prize, a Pushcart Prize, and Britain’s W.H. Smith Award (best book of the year).[8] He has received the Gerald Lampert Award, gold medals for fiction and for poetry in the National Magazine Awards, the Air Canada Award, and the 2002 Petra Kenney Prize. Flight Paths of the Emperor has been listed at Amazon.ca as one of the ten best Canadian short story collections.[9]

Heighton has been the writer-in-residence at McArthur College, Queen's University and The University of Ottawa.[10] He has also participated in several workshops including the Summer Literary Seminars, poetry work shop, in St. Petersburg, Russia (2007), and the Writing with Style, short fiction workshop, in Banff, Alberta (2007).[11]

Heighton currently lives in Kingston, Ontario with his family.[12]

Reviews

[Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

It has been quite a while since we saw or heard the phrase “Free Tibet”, but this novel of mountaineering, escape and survival, set on the border between Nepal and Tibet (China) brought the concept powerfully back to my mind. The main characters are Lewis Book, a Canadian physician who works in areas of suffering (like Doctors Without Borders), his young adult daughter, Sophie, who Book has brought to Nepal because she has been misbehaving at home; Amaris, a photographer, who is Canadian but was adopted from Vietnam as a baby; and Wade Lawson, a mountain climber, who is desperate to rectify past mistakes by climbing Mt. Kyatruk, an extremely high, unclimbed mountain in the Himalayas. In addition, a number of Sherpas, of several ethnicities, are part of the group. To support his climb, Lawson has assembled the characters at his base camp just on the Nepal side of the border with Tibet (China).
One day Sophie sees a group of Tibetan refugees climbing the glacier toward freedom in Nepal; however, they are pursued by Chinese soldiers, who attack the refugees. Tibetans are wounded, Book crosses the border to provide medical help, then Book and Amaris, along with the remaining Tibetan refugees (including Buddhist nuns and monks and a generational family), are captured and taken to a prison in China, located miles away. Sophie follows them. Their escape and virtually unsurvivable trek back to Nepal creates the heart of the story. Meanwhile, Wade is attempting to climb Mr. Kyatruk.
The viewpoint of each person in the group trying to get to Nepal is wonderfully delineated. We see how the three Westerners as well as the Buddhist nuns deal with the hardships they suffer. The novel touches on the effects of different cultures and religions as well as geopolitics – all in the context of trying to survive a trek across Tibet while being pursued by Chinese soldiers.
The mountain climbing thread is also interesting. It primarily deals with the manner in which lack of oxygen at thigh altitudes affects the human brain and our thinking (including hallucinations), decision making and ability to react.
If you like well done survival/mountain/trekking stories, this one is really well done. The political issues are also integral and well portrayed. It did make me want to remember and repeat “Free Tibet”.

[George Ilsley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Steven Heighton does it again. A brilliant novel which crosses boundaries are easily as the characters do in the plot. A border in the mountains can be a peak, a valley, a river, or just an imaginary line on a map.

It's a thriller, in a sense, but a thriller for smart, sensitive readers.

[Friederike Knabe · Rating 5 out of 5]

A 2006 dramatic incident in the High Himalayas - at the border between Nepal and the Tibetan Autonomous Region of China - was the impetus for Canadian author Stephen Heighton's richly imagined multifaceted novel about personal dreams and failures, courage, endurance and love.

Heighton, the author of the much praised novel Afterlands, is also an accomplished poet. His beautifully crafted evocative depiction of the regions landscapes, with its stark changes in climate and vistas during day and night time hours, and otherworldly sensations experienced by high altitude mountaineers, provide a strong integrating theme for the novel.

Several parallel narrative streams, starting out as one, and continuing in two and three alternating strands, and seen from different protagonists' perspectives, eventually overlap and come together again in deeply moving ways: the attempted climb of an unconquered summit; the arrest and treatment of Tibetan pilgrims; the Canadian climbers, caught with them by Chinese border guards. Entirely believable and thoughtfully presented, the author delves into the hard realities of the Tibetan conflict between those who strive to maintain their traditional life and those who see progress in cooperating with the Chinese.

EVERY LOST COUNTRY can be read on different levels, each fascinating in itself, yet each is enriched by the other levels. It is as much a dramatic adventure story, and at times a page-turner, as it is a deeply reflective and lyrical exploration of human nature, our drive to reach our goals, whether they are fame and fortune, or moral integrity, altruism, or serenity and love for others.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good story that could have been so much better if the author had left out the pointless secondary plot of the Wade Lawson character trying to reach the summit. But then, I find the whole idea of climbing mountains pointless. The only purpose that character should serve is to provide a reason for Lewis, Sophie, and Amaris to be there. Wade Lawson's story was of zero interest to me.

[Lee · Rating 2 out of 5]

a bit too slow paced for me and i didnt really like any of the characters...

[Magdelanye · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's a myth that suffering makes you more compassionate and helpful; past a certain point , it just confines you to the small, private country of your pain. p74

Over the course of this well-crafted and gorgeously written adventure, set along the Himalayan border, SH manages to convey, with his relatively small cast of characters, the essential human predicament. It is in the intersections between greed and altruism and the conflicting desires of care that motivation is generated.

Desire is a narrative that keeps you moving forward, even at a crawl, needing to find out. p281

You never know what love is going to require of you; you just hope you're equal to the crises. p314

[Colleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dr. Lewis Book and his teenage daughter, Sophie, are part of a climbing team that is attempting to reach a new summit in Nepal. One evening Sophie spots a group of Tibetan refugees fleeing Chinese soldiers. They are heading for the border, which is precisely where she is sitting. When the Chinese begin to shoot at the refugees, Dr. Book rushes across the border to help the injured while Amaris, a Canadian filmmaker who is making a documentary of the expedition, joins him. They are both captured and, along with the remaining Tibetans, are taken away by the Chinese. Distraught at her father’s capture, Sophie decides to head out on her own to find him.

The story is told from different viewpoints: that of Lewis, Sophie, Amaris and Lawson, the expedition leader who is determined to reach the summit at any cost. All of them are haunted by past regrets and their predicament forces them to face these regrets and push their beliefs and endurance to the limits.

I particularly like Lawson’s point of view. His sections took up less of the story, but they were great for showing how the desire to ascend these mountains makes people obsessed and how easily they lose all logic and reason in their efforts to reach the top.

This was a good, solid adventure story. I think I would have appreciated it more if I hadn’t “had” to read it right at this moment in time (it was my book club’s pick for this month and I just wasn’t in the mood for an adventure). My problem, though… not the book’s!

[CarolynAnn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately, I misinterpreted the theme of the book - having recently returned from travelling in China, Nepal and Tibet, I was interested in reading about the history of the struggles between the Tibetans and Chinese ... not necessarily through non-fiction history books but reading fiction that was based on well-researched fact. This book had been recommended by a friend so I thought it would be interesting but, in my opinion, this novel is simply an adventure story about a mountain climber and a doctor that is set in the Himalayas. In and of itself, that could lead to an interesting read... however, for me, I found that the book was too disjointed and, more importantly, both of the main characters were self-indulgent men who I found to be quite unlikeable. While I did finish the book, and certainly I was interested in the story up to the 1/3 mark, for sure, I found the last third to be repetitive and more than a little annoying.

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Steven Heighton has been described as “one of the best writers of our time, maybe the best.” I was introduced to this author when I read about his untimely passing, at the tender age of 60. It is my intention to read more of his work. Inspired by an actual event, this page turner kept my interest until the end. RIP Steven.

[Lisa · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book was painfully slow with no surprises. I can't think of a single reason I would recommend this to anyone. I have been fascinated with Tibet for over six decades but this book was such a huge disappointment.

[Isabeau Iqbal · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the setting of this book but especially liked the characters. I found the 'chase' went on a bit too long.

[Isla McKetta · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Heighton's writing and the pacing is exquisite, but I couldn't get past the archetypal feel of the characters.

[Shane · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think those who attempt to write “literary thrillers” set themselves up for a difficult climb, like the climb up Mt. Kyatruk in this novel, one most likely to end in failure. The pacing of the thriller gets diluted with literary musing and we end up with neither a literary piece nor a thriller. If I had to place my bet on this book though, I’d say it is more literary than thriller.

I liked the contrast of the mountain climber risking his life for personal glory vs. the doctor who risks his for others, and the writer’s conclusion of leaving the latter to continue healing for another day while the climber self destructs after coming to terms with his demons.

Based on a true incident on the border of Nepal and Chinese-controlled Tibet, a group of North American mountain climbers witness a group of Tibetan refugees being stopped at the porous dividing line by Chinese troops in an altercation that involves shooting and injury. The Canadian doctor among the mountaineers, Lewis Book, a selfless healer, opts to cross into Chinese territory to help the injured and is arrested, while the leader of the team, Wade Lawson, prefers non-involvement and retains his focus on this last shot at scaling the mountain and restoring his former reputation as a mountain climber. Sophie is Book’s rebellious teenage daughter struggling for her father’s attention and willing to risk her life to gain it, while Amaris, a Chinese-Canadian film maker, committed to covering Lawson’s last climb, is having an ambiguous and unsatisfying sexual relationship with the mountaineer while being attracted at a deeper level to the good doctor. Sprinkled amidst these westerners is a motley group of Tibetans: soldiers, rebels, nuns and young families, some whose names and forms I could never quite get because they all seemed to speak in one voice. The story diverges with the border incident, one strand following Book’s odyssey into China and his return via a tortuous trek accompanied by the same band of refugees making a second attempt at freedom, while the other follows Lawson up Mt. Kyatruk, both lines converging once more at the base of the mountain at the novel’s predictable climax.

Heighton uses this opening incident at the Tibet/Nepal border to full advantage, viewing it repeatedly from many of the characters’ viewpoints. It is a clever device to introduce back-story on the principal players and tell us how each of them came to be in this location at this point in time.

Using the present tense attempts to provide immediacy but somehow it is out of tempo with the plodding narrative where everything and everyone on the trail had to be covered in great detail at all times; the omniscient narrator is like an attentive tour guide constantly checking up on his charges. Frequent flashbacks also intrude on the pacing, some appearing in the middle of a tense scene, diffusing the tension. That Heighton is a poet is obvious, when lyrical but unformed sentences pop up all the time: “An anxious cacophony,” “The Tibetans filling out.” And I think he needs to brush up on his sex scenes; the desperate fumbling between Book and Amarys while in camp, kind of lost it for me. Compensating for all this is the moonscape-like terrain of this region that is brought vividly to life in the writing.

All that said, I enjoyed this book given its rare setting and strong metaphors. If I can coin an unformed sentence like Heighton to summarize the novel, I would say, “Blind ambition and blind service separating at a blind border...”

[Barbara Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mr. Heighton provides an insider’s glimpse into the world of the Sherpa people in Tibet and Nepal, their customs and the simple life they live without material goods. Their spiritual leader is the Dalai Lama, representative of the life they aspire to. These people are the focus of this novel, a small group of Tibetan people seeking refuge and freedom in nearby Nepal. The Tibetans are caught in a conflict between keeping their traditional life and those who co-operate with the Chinese. The Chinese view any Tibetan as a rebel who does not support China’s occupation of their country.

Parallels of the two main plots are clear: the climb of the mountain and the plight of the Canadians in escaping the Chinese military. Multiple sub-plots are seen through the narratives of various characters. Each of the main and sub-characters work through their inner struggles over personal convictions and failures of their complicated backstories. They are seen initially as separate threads then woven together through different perspectives and finally coming together to become one.

Dr. Lewis Book who has spent most of his life working for Doctors Without Borders, living in crisis zones, is committed to assist victims without regard for his own safety. Acting true to character, Book rushes across the border into Tibet to assist those wounded in the shooting. Sophie, not to be abandoned once again by her father, follows. Amaris McRae, documentary filmmaker, sees her chance at a better story than the climbing expedition. When the Canadians are at the mercy of the elements of nature and the Chinese military they begin to understand Wade Lawson’s single-minded desire to conquer a mountain.

Wade Lawson is determined at any cost to reach the summit of Kyatruk at 7,878 metres. He goes through self-reflection during episodes of the psychological battle against the thin air and weather conditions of high altitudes. The climbing sequences are spectacular and gripping, especially at the end.

An engaging character was Zapa, the Himalayan yak, who despite his purpose in the story added to the tapestry of the novel.

This book kept me reading, mesmerized. Mr. Heighton’s evocative writing style lures the reader in with perfect detailed descriptions of the landscape, cultures, emotions, climate, dilemmas and sensations experienced by high altitude mountaineers; and complex characters who feel like friends after a couple of chapters. When the ending came I was satisfied with how it closed, but sorry to see it end.

[Johnathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I was worried about the pacing in the first half of the novel, I think Heighton really delivered in the second half. As always his language is just supremely beautiful and thought-provoking, and I was surprised at how well this worked in the context of a thriller. I couldn't get enough of the last quarter-or-so of the book. The plight of the refugees as they climbed the pass with the Chinese close on their tail, to the penultimate moment when Book gets shot, was so well paced, so beautifully told, and so engaging. There were times when I forgot where I was and was totally with the characters. That said, at other times I was confused by Heighton's characterization. At times there seemed little difference between the motivations/personalities of the characters, which made the telling of the story from the different viewpoints not super successful. But I do think that he delivered on everything in the end - it just took a little long to get to the good stuff.

[Pauline · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was interested in this book because I have a number of things in common with it...I have traveled to China, I am an avid hiker and I work in travel medicine. So I thought this would be a great read, a book that contains a number of my interests. I was wrong.

"Every Lost Country" is a story of Tibetan refugees fleeing from Chinese soldiers and a group of people involved in a climbing expedition that gets caught up in the refugees flight from China.

I felt like I was reading a made up story, which I know I was, but a book should make you believe the characters are alive and that you want to be with them and get to know them or that you want to stay away from them. This book is lacking in depth and detail both in characters and in description of the great country China.

Definitely a story of potential that does not reach its goal.

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heighton has fashioned a rapid-fire, suspense-filled narrative based on an actual event. This is the remote, mountainous country where Nepal borders Tibet. Wade Lawson wants to be the first climber to scale the dangerous peak of Kyatruk and has assembled an expedition that includes Dr. Lewis Book and filmmaker Amaris McRae. His plans are disrupted when Chinese soldiers fire on a group of Tibetan refugees fleeing for the Nepali border and Book and McRae, crossing into Chinese territory to help the wounded, are taken prisoner. Despite these losses, Lawson pushes forward with his climb. Meanwhile, Book and McRae engage in a life and death struggle to care for the wounded Tibetans while in Chinese custody. Unavoidably, the novel makes a political statement, but this is a human drama that unfolds with the emotional urgency and riveting immediacy of cinema.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good story well told. I enjoyed the story itself although much of the first third of the book is spent setting up the last two thirds where the themes emerge. all of the main characters are running from or to something. Sometimes both. In some cases the drive is from within ( Lawson ) and in some cases from outside ( the run from the Chinese, to freedom ). For all of the main characters, the voyage is one of self discovery. It is the exploration of these themes which raise the book above the usual thriller to the level of the literary. The characters are well drawn and very believable. By anchoring the story to a true event, Heighton makes the story much more suspenseful and his characters that much more believable. We share their anguish much more because we believe they are real ( although they are not).

[Allana · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story is based (in the beginning) on an actual event - the disturbing chase & shooting of Tibetan refugees by Chinese soldiers, witnessed by a climbing expedition on a pass in the mountains between Tibet & Nepal. What I liked most is that the story (pageturner) doesn't simplify the characters or their reactions to the event. We get to see the internal struggles, fears and loves - the thoughts behind the characters' decisions to act or to stand by, to stay or to follow. Each is humanly complicated, in the way they relate to the other characters, and how they react to the events and surroundings they find themselves so unexpectedly attached to.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish I had read this earlier. Gripping story of a mountain climb gone wrong set on the border of China and Nepal. A group of strangers are drawn together when they see refugees being chased by Chinese soldiers and the decision is made to intercede. What follows is a beautiful, brutal, honest story of the true measure of these people as they struggle to survive and escape; set against the egotistical character of Wade, the climber determined to scale Kyatruk at any cost.
The author's writing is gorgeous and rich, his characters flawed, interesting and so well developed that they come alive.
I didn't want to put this book down and can't wait to read his other books.

[Peggy · Rating 4 out of 5]

A friend recommended this book because I had recently been in the Himalayas on holiday. It is set in Nepal and Tibet and was quite reminiscent of our trip, even though of course, nothing like the events in the book happened to us. The author is a poet, so I didn't expect the book to read like a thriller. A Canadian doctor and his daughter are captured by Chinese soldiers when they try to help some Tibetan refugees. Their story, as well as that of a discredited mountain climber trying to be the first to climb a particularly inaccessible peak, along with a Chinese-Canadian filmmaker, comprise the four main viewpoints of the novel.

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an intriguing story of adventure involving two journeys with very different purposes and outcomes. One journey is unwillinghly taken with insights into the self revealed within and between the principal participants. The other is taken by a man driven to prove something to himself and to others and ending by proving nothing. I thought the book was well-written. It would be interesting to know how close to real life experiences were the actions of the Chinese soldiers. I especially liked the portions of the book entailing the bravery of the inhabitants of the Tyamtso.

[Alex Taylor · Rating 2 out of 5]

Never quite got going or lived up to its hype.
Full of stereotypical characters - the maverick doctor with a broken marriage, the wayward teenage daughter, the celebrity mountaineer, the plucky sherpa, etc. None that you really cared that much about. Felt like it was written as a film script - unlikely gun fights, crashing helicopters, blah, blah.
Don't bother.

[Eric Wright · Rating 2 out of 5]

Story of a climber and his photographer who witness Chinese border guards chasing Tibetan refugees on border with Nepal. Very frustrating book for long paragraphs of telling rather than showing or dialogue. Dumped after 40 pages.

[Angie Abdou · Rating 5 out of 5]

My book of the year for 2010. Find my written review here:

http://www.abdou.ca/litpicks_everylos...

And my very different YouTube review here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=huTyzX...

[Neil · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my cup of tea..I didn't enjoy how it was constructed. Just didn't flow easily as it might have done. Despite the reviews. I had to move quite quickly through the last half of the book..almost tossed it.

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

It just didn't work for me. Characters were unrealistic, either too good or too selfish. I didn't finish it, my loss.

[Rosemary Mutton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book as a summer read. Interesting story about the border between China and Nepal. Not great literature.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love this Canadian author. The book could easily be made into an action movie.

[Susan Glickman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thoughtful and exciting thriller, full of beautiful passages.