In this epic narrative, Charles Lind creates a detailed, poetic, and convincing account of mountaineering's greatest mystery - Mallory and Irvine's last climb on Everest. Mallory described a climb as a spiritual journey: "To struggle and to understand - never this last without the other." An Afterclap of Fate is a profound recreation of that struggle, the journey to understand during the climb, set within a meticulously researched narrative. The reader is taken into the stream of Mallory's consciousness. This vivid reliving of the detail of the climb leads the reader into the heart and soul of Mallory himself. The narrative stretches from Mallory's earliest childhood memory to moving recollections of the First World War and finally to the realization of the dream - the summit of Mt. Everest. An Afterclap of Fate is more than a meditation on the paths of glory and the changeling nicknamed Free Will, it is also about the why of climbing and its wild joy. Stephen Venables called it "a magnificent poem ... beautiful ... and incredibly moving." It is haunting and unforgettable - an elegy and a paean to the pioneers of the Golden and Silver Ages of mountaineering. WINNER OF THE 2006 BOARDMAN TASKER PRIZE FOR MOUNTAINEERING LITERATURE "This is a bold book; fact, fiction and fantasy rolled together in a refreshingly different approach. ... the writing is powerful, superbly structured and Lind indeed casts the fine spell of words." - Ronald Faux, 2006 Boardman Tasker Prize chair of judges