Climbers

As the title suggests this is a novel about Climbers, not the glory seekers having a stab at Mount Everest, but rather those who operate a little closer to home. About a man who's climbing hobby comes to dominate his life, as it does with those of his friends, as they tackle crags, cliffs and quarries all over Britain. There is a cost for this obsession paid in their personal lives, and you are very aware of the ever present sense of risk hovering over them, as acquaintances and friends succumb to accidents of different severity. It's warts and all, grounded and realistic, carried as ever by Harrison's gift with language. There's no overarching plot and the story as such reads like a slice of life, like a fly on the wall documentary before reality TV came in a took over.

Not only is this my favourite of Harrison's novels (and I've read them all except the most recent one), but I believe it to be his best. This book is amazingly underappreciated. I think it's one of the greatest novels in English in the past 30 years.