Last Englishmen

Winner of the Kekoo Naoroji Award for Mountain Literature 2019An engrossing story of passion and exploration that traces the end of empire and the stirring of a new world order.John Auden was a pioneering geologist of the Himalayas. Michael Spender was the first to draw a detailed map of the North Face of Mount Everest. While their younger brothers W. H. Auden and Stephen Spender achieved literary fame, they vied for a place on an expedition that would finally conquer Everest. To this rivalry was added another: their shared love for a painter named Nancy Sharp. Her choice would determine each man s wartime loyalties.From Calcutta to pre-war London to Everest itself, The Last Englishmen tracks a generation obsessed with a romantic ideal. With a cast including writers, artists, political rogues and spies, this is narrative history at its most engaging and illuminating.'Wholly original... It wouldn t be an exaggeration to say that there is something Tolstoyan to Baker's vast project... Remarkable' Neel Mukherjee An exuberant, scene-changing, shapeshifting group biography Spectator