Up to the Light

by Julia Armfield

From Lambda Literary Award and Goodreads Choice finalist Julia Armfield, a novel following two climbers in the aftermath of an Alpine expedition that went horribly wrong, pitched as Into Thin Air meets The Haunting of Hill House, by way of Brokeback Mountain

June, 1994. The storied Mount Varda has been untouched by mountaineers for decades: the last expedition ended in tragedy. When Liam Holness and Petal Coulson-Carter, best friends and celebrated climbers, are invited to join a team organized by the famous Jim Callaghan to pioneer a new route, they are initially skeptical. Working-class Liam and butch lesbian Petal exist on the outside of mountaineering’s privilege, and they have no interest in Jim’s media circus.

But the call of the mountain is too strong, and soon Liam and Petal are in the French Alps preparing for ascent. Joining them on the expedition is Bill Franklin, Liam’s oldest rival, whose sweet nature begins to break down Liam’s defenses, while Petal’s heart is turned by a climber’s widow living in the town. As the expedition looms closer, the climbers begin to experience sleepless nights, bad dreams, and hallucinations. And as they make their way up the mountain, the world gives way to something stranger. With oxygen scarce and the altitude dizzying, how can Liam and Petal be sure of what is real? And will they ever know what happened to those they left behind on the peak?

Braiding Liam and Petal’s perspectives with Jim’s tell-all memoir in the expedition's aftermath, Up to the Light is a heart-pounding adventure story and an aching dual love story, with a horror edge. Gorgeously written, chilling, and entrancing, this novel asks why we are drawn to danger, and how we can find one another again in the wake of unspeakable loss.

Genres: Horror, Lesbian, Fiction, Queer, Adult, LGBT, Literary Fiction

304 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication March 25, 2027

About the author

Julia Armfield was born in London in 1990. She is a fiction writer and occasional playwright with a Masters in Victorian Art and Literature from Royal Holloway University. She was shortlisted for the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year in 2019. She was commended in the Moth Short Story Prize 2017, longlisted for the Deborah Rogers Award 2018, and won the White Review short story prize 2018. Her first book, salt slow, is a collection of short stories about bodies and the bodily, mapping the skin and bones of its characters through their experiences of isolation, obsession and love. She won the Pushcart Prize in 2020. Julia Armfield lives and works in London.

Reviews

[Alex Jiménez]

I’m sat. the bookstore employees are telling me to leave bc this book won’t be out for almost a year, but I’m just SO sat

[Jess]

How I feel when Julia Armfield announces a new book is how I imagine how all my friends feel when Taylor Swift announces a new album.

[Marcus (Lit_Laugh_Luv)]

My favourite author is releasing a new book, and you're telling me I have to WAITTTTT?

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[Leila]

new Julia Armfield.......I will be there 🕯

[Amber Smoke]

I NEEEEEDDD ITTTTT

[Izzy]

I heard into thin air meets brokeback mountain and I’m sat