INTRODUCED BY FIONA MOZLEY, Booker-shortlisted author of Elmet
WITH EXCERPTS FROM ALL THE ROADS ARE OPEN BY ANNEMARIE SCHWARZENBACH

'We were both travellers - she always running away from an emotional crisis (not seeing that she was already wishing for the next), I always seeking far afield the secret of harmonious living, or filling up time by courting risk, caught by the clean sharp "taste" it gives to life.'


In 1939, adventurer and writer Ella Maillart set off on an epic drive from Geneva to Kabul, accompanied by journalist and photographer Annemarie Schwarzenbach, who later became an antifascist and lesbian icon.

The two women travelled partly to escape the coming war in Europe, embarking on a daring, and often dangerous, journey through regions where European women were a rarity. But Schwarzenbach was also fighting a losing battle with morphine addiction, and the women's close but often troubled relationship takes centre stage in the narrative as the journey progresses through Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan.

Encountering breathtaking landscapes, ancient ruins and nomadic peoples, The Cruel Way is a gripping, lyrical and deeply empathetic portrait of places, people and friendship.

Brought together for the first time with excerpts from All the Roads are Open, Annemarie Schwarzenbach's parallel account of the journey.

About the Author
Ella Maillart (1903-1997) was a Swiss writer, adventurer and sportswoman who travelled extensively throughout Asia, including a 3,500-mile journey from Peking to Srinagar with Peter Fleming. Her travels and journalism covered the USSR, Central Asia, China and the Near East. She was also an Olympic sailor, champion hockey player and international skier. Fiona Mozley grew up in York and lives in Edinburgh. Her first novel, Elmet, won a Somerset Maugham Award and the Polari Prize. It was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize, and longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction, the Dublin Literary Award and the International Dylan Thomas Prize. In 2018 Fiona Mozley was shortlisted for the Sunday Times/PFD Young Writer of the Year Award.


Book Information
ISBN 9781529379785
Author Ella K Maillart
Format Paperback
Page Count 320
Imprint John Murray Publishers Ltd
Publisher John Murray Press
Weight(grams) 260g
Dimensions(mm) 200mm * 126mm * 26mm