The Boy and the Mountain: A Father, His Son, and a Journey of Discovery

"[A] well told tale to massage our mind and imagination."
—Ron Dart, The British Columbia Review

“The only writer I can think of who does this sort of Nature Noir storytelling as well as Ekelund does is Annie Dillard... Highly recommended.”
—The Vancouver Sun

"When Torbjørn Ekelund's son August was 7 years old, the pair went on an expedition. They shouldered their packs and set out to hike Styggemann, the tallest mountain in the Skrim range in Norway, where they live. . . Darkening this father-son adventure is the interwoven story of another boy who hiked that mountain 100 years before, and who disappeared. The story of Hans Torske gives an edge to this slender memoir—but a crucial one."
—Minneapolis Star-Tribune

"This gorgeous little book reads like a meditation—as sparse and polished as the Norwegian wilderness. Ekelund's tender reflections on his father-son journey offer a stirring reminder of the inescapable and elemental forces that shape all our lives: love, family, and landscape."
—Bruce Kirkby, author of Blue Sky Kingdom: An Epic Family Journey to the Heart of the Himalaya

"The Boy and The Mountain strikes right to the heart of what it means to be a parent. . . With great sophistication, vulnerability, and honesty, Ekelund weaves together the story of two little mountaineers in the same place over a century apart. The book is a brilliant study in connection: present to past, parent to child, and human to nature."
—Angie Abdou, author of This One Wild Life

"Torbjørn Ekelund has given us a story of a father and son now, and another boy who lost his way long ago. It explores the ache and wonder of being a parent, and our longing for a deeper relationship with the rest of nature. I was deeply moved."
—Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder and Our Wild Calling


Praise for In Praise of Paths by Torbjørn Ekelund

"What [Ekelund]'s addressing is the intention to walk one's way to meaning: the walk as spiritual exercise, a kind of vision quest in which the answers we arrive at are less important than the impulse to seek them."
—New York Times

"A charming read, celebrating the relationship between humans and their bodies, their landscapes, and one another."
—The Washington Post

"This lovely book taps into something primeval in us all."
—Star Tribune

"[R]ethinking the social, historical, and spiritual needs that are met by putting one foot in front of the other."
—Outside Magazine

"[Urges] a return to our ambulatory origins…[N]ever low on zeal."
—Wall Street Journal