There's a particular quality of light in Alpine villages at dusk, when the valley fills with shadow and the peaks catch the last gold. Norman Douglas captured it beautifully in this lyrical memoir of mountain life and the people who inhabit it. Written in 1923, the book follows the author as he returns to a Swiss village he has known for years, escaping the crushing heat of the lowlands for the crisp air and green slopes. But this is no mere travelogue. Douglas writes with the accumulated affection of someone who has walked these paths in childhood and returns now with older eyes. He recalls hunting expeditions, encounters with chamois, long evenings discussing wine and local politics with village friends. The book is steeped in the small dramas of Alpine life, the characters who populate this high world, and the food and wine that mark the seasons. It's a book about going back to a place you love and finding that it loves you back, told with warmth, humor, and the kind of detailed observation that only comes from truly knowing a landscape.
