{"product_id":"on-not-climbing-mountains-9780733644566","title":"On Not Climbing Mountains","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrom the internationally acclaimed, prize-winning author of \u003ci\u003eThe Performance\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eFugitive Blue \u003c\/i\u003ecomes a remarkable work of literary fiction\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrom the internationally acclaimed, prize-winning author of \u003ci\u003eThe Performance\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eFugitive Blue \u003c\/i\u003ecomes a remarkable work of literary fiction\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA woman arrives in Geneva, the first stop in a train journey through the country of her father's birth. She yearns to be outside time - untethered and alone - but she soon becomes immersed in the stories resonating all around her. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eShe visits a museum and stares into the oversized, disco-ball eyes of an insect, unsettled by the intimacy, 'like looking into the facial pores of a lover'. Later, she will tiptoe through the snow to find a portrait of James Baldwin on the window shutter of a chalet, his features rendered in rows of silver staples shot into timber. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eShe will find traces of Mary Shelley and Fleur Jaeggy; android pioneers in eighteenth-century Neuchatel; Charlie Chaplin, Patricia Highsmith, and striking workers drilling through the earth to create the vast Gotthard Tunnel; Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary as they summit Everest; Lenin and the Dada artists in early twentieth-century Zurich.\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eOn Not Climbing Mountains\u003c\/i\u003e is a tender and compelling novel. Beautifully conceived and deftly crafted, it is an exhilarating feat of storytelling, concerned with the fragilities of the natural world, the pains of grief and memory, and the endless reverberations of art.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e 'Incandescent with ideas. One of the best books by an Australian writer I've read in a long time. A magisterially good book' \u003cb\u003eTHE BOOKSHELF\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003e- ABC RADIO NATIONAL\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e'Thomas has written a novel that is truly \u003ci\u003enovel\u003c\/i\u003e - she plays with form and artfully constructs a journey through the mountains of Switzerland, braiding stories of artists, writers, and thinkers into a literary rope, a pulley system for the mind. Vivian Gornick meets Ali Smith, but unmistakably Claire Thomas'\u003cb\u003e MADELEINE GRAY, AUTHOR OF \u003ci\u003eGREEN DOT\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e'A book of images, resonances, memory, and the mingling of art and life that becomes something beautiful and tender' \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSYDNEY MORNING HERALD\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e'Told aslant with a beautiful lightness of touch . . . There is a sense, throughout, of the author just behind the scenes, in tight control of her material; of history churning beneath her prose' \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eTHE GUARDIAN\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e   \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e'A beautifully meditative, intensely lyrical book, and its approach to narrative is innovative and exciting' \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eSATURDAY PAPER\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e'Both vast and intimate . . . A tender, intelligent, and moving novel' \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eAUSTRALIAN BOOK REVIEW\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e'Extraordinary and experimental' \u003cb\u003eTHE CONVERSATION\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e'Thomas has an archivist's curiosity and a novelist's ear, and the result is a work that feels both precise and associative. She invi\u003ch4\u003eDetails\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cp\u003eISBN13: 9780733644566\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFormat: Paperback \/ softback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eNumber of Pages: 304\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eEdition: \u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublication Date: 24 Feb 2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublisher: Hachette Australia\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublication City, Country: Sydney, Australia\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDimensions (cm): 23.2(H)x15(L)x2.6(W)380\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWeight (gm): 380\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch4\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h4\u003eClaire Thomas is a writer from Naarm\/Melbourne. Her first novel was \u003ci\u003eFugitive Blue\u003c\/i\u003e, which won the Dobbie Literary Award for women writers, and was longlisted for the Miles Franklin Literary Award. Her second novel, \u003ci\u003eThe Performance\u003c\/i\u003e, also longlisted for the Miles Franklin, was internationally published to critical acclaim, and shortlisted for the NSW Premier's Literary Award Christina Stead Prize for Fiction in 2022. Claire holds a PhD from the University of Melbourne and has worked as a mentor, lecturer, supervisor and teacher for many years. \u003ci\u003eOn Not Climbing Mountains\u003c\/i\u003e was written with the support of a residency at the Fondation Jan Michalski in Montricher, Switzerland.\u003ch4\u003eReviews\u003c\/h4\u003e","brand":"Claire Thomas","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48059768340697,"sku":"9780733644566","price":32.99,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0502\/9530\/8441\/files\/9780733644566.jpg?v=1772539641","url":"https:\/\/www.arielbooks.com.au\/products\/on-not-climbing-mountains-9780733644566","provider":"Ariel","version":"1.0","type":"link"}