About the Author

Erika Fatland was born in 1983 and studied Social Anthropology at the University of Oslo. Her 2011 book, The Village of Angels, was an in situ report on the Beslan terror attacks of 2004 and she is also the author of The Year Without Summer, describing the harrowing year that followed the massacre on Utoya in 2011. For Sovietistan (2019) she was shortlisted for the Edward Stanford/Lonely Planet Debut Travel Writer of the Year, and The Border (2020) was shortlisted for the Stanfords Dolman Travel Book of the Year 2020. She speaks eight languages and lives in Oslo with her husband.

Reviews

Enchanting
*Independent (Books of the Month)*

Erika Fatland is shaping up to be one of the Nordics' most exciting new travel writers
*National Geographic*

Fatland is a sensitive and insightful chronicler of quotidian lives and a compelling narrator.
*Observer*

An engaging snapshot of the current residents of this high-altitude battleground . . . Fatland is a lovely writer with a sympathetic eye for the absurd, who draws affectionate pen portraits of the people she meets
*Financial Times*

[Fatland] is an acute and sympathetic observer, and her book fills a gap in the literature of the Himalayas . . . In High, women's stories and voices prevail.
*Times Literary Supplement*

Excellent. Fatland's a superb reporter, with an engaging personality and boundless curiosity. The English versions of her books convey her immense vitality and charm. Ideal for armchair travelers, packed with information and entertaining anecdotes.
*Washington Post*

Norwegian anthropologist Erika Fatland, whose previous books include Sovietistan, distinguishes herself from the stereotypes . . . Writing with aplomb and sensitivity, Fatland observes the sights and sounds of cities, towns and villages; she visits temples and forests and explores the high plateau. Places are carefully contextualised with geopolitical and historical detail and she weaves in geology too, grounding the work in the land itself . . . [a]s traveller and anthropologist, [she] establishes a unique rapport with girls and women leading to precious insights into lives rarely recorded.
*Guardian*

The true allure of Ms. Fatland's book lies in her ability to reach inside people's homes and talk to women who lead sequestered lives, to penetrate the outer sanctum that separates Muslim women from a world that imperils female honor. As an outgoing 39-year-old woman, Ms. Fatland can have conversations that a man like Colin Thubron, celebrated for his writings on these parts, could scarcely have had.
*Wall Street Journal*

Erika Fatland has written a masterpiece . . . Along the way Fatland has developed her own distinct approach to travel writing. She now writes better than Robert D Kaplan
*Aftenposten*

Even the reader gasps for breath
*Adressavisen*

Fatland's extensive knowledge subtly forms an elegant backdrop for her encounters with the local people
*Morgenbladet*

Erika Fatland is about to, singlehandedly, completely renew Norwegian travel literature.
*VG*

Respect. Erika Fatland can travel, she can write. HØYT is a brilliant book.
*Politiken*

Genre-bursting world-class travel literature. Brilliantly executed deep-dive into the human conditions in some of the world's most important countries.
*Jens A. Riisnæs*

Fatland has risen to new literary and literal heights
*Dagbladet*

One of travel writings rising stars . . . Erika Fatland ascends to new heights with her fascinating journey among the isolated villages spanning the fractious borders that divide up the Himalaya region
*Wanderlust*