In the 1930s Nan Shepherd was one of Scotland’s best-known writers. Three novels, The Quarry Wood, The Weatherhouse and A Pass in the Grampians – as well as a volume of poetry, In the Cairngorms – were all published between 1928 and 1934 while she was in her 30s. These books established her reputation as one of the most highly-respected members of the Scottish Modernist movement.
Then, much later, in 1977, came The Living Mountain, a short but very powerful reflection on her experiences walking in the Cairngorms – a book which was immediately described as a masterpiece by some of the original reviewers. Incredibly, the manuscript of The Living Mountain had been in Nan’s drawer since the 1940s when she first wrote it. It is now a widely read classic.