The Living Mountain cover art

The Living Mountain

A Celebration of the Cairngorm Mountains of Scotland

 Preview
Try Premium Plus free
1 credit a month to buy any audiobook in our entire collection.
Access to thousands of additional audiobooks and Originals from the Plus Catalogue.
Member-only deals & discounts.
Auto-renews at $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

The Living Mountain

By: Nan Shepherd, Robert Macfarlane, Jeanette Winterson
Narrated by: Tilda Swinton, Robert MacFarlane, Jeanette Winterson
Try Premium Plus free

Auto-renews at $16.45/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy Now for $25.99

Buy Now for $25.99

About this listen

In this masterpiece of nature writing, beautifully narrated by Oscar-winning actress Tilda Swinton, Nan Shepherd describes her journeys into the Cairngorm mountains of Scotland. There she encounters a world that can be breathtakingly beautiful at times and shockingly harsh at others. Her intense, poetic prose explores and records the rocks, rivers, creatures and hidden aspects of this remarkable landscape.

Shepherd spent a lifetime in search of the ‘essential nature’ of the Cairngorms; her quest led her to write this classic meditation on the magnificence of mountains, and on our imaginative relationship with the wild world around us. Composed during the Second World War, the manuscript of The Living Mountain lay untouched for more than 30 years before it was finally published.

©2019 Nan Shepherd (P)2019 Canongate Books Ltd Anthologies & Short Stories Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Nature & Ecology Outdoors & Nature Science Short Stories Inspiring Classics

Critic Reviews

"The finest book ever written on nature and landscape in Britain." (Guardian)

"Reading [The Living Mountain] seems to me to explain why reading is so important. And odd. And necessary. And not like anything else. There is no substitute for reading." (Jeanette Winterson)

"Most works of mountain literature are written by men, and most of them focus on the goal of the summit. Nan Shepherd's aimless, sensual exploration of the Cairngorms is bracingly different." (Robert MacFarlane)
All stars
Most relevant  
Wonderful in the most literal sense. To be lived again and again in order to learn the magic of nature and its ability to lead us to better knowledge of ourselves and life itself.

Wonderful! To be lived again and again to learn and savour the romance and joy of nature in order to know our own selves better.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A true ecologist and poet. A classic. One of the most exquisite books I’ve ever encountered.

Sublime

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Probably the best audio book I have listened to. Tilda Swinton has the perfect voice to narrate this natural history of the Cairngorms. It is both hauntingly feminine and perfectly modulated.
Nan Shepherd is new to me but I immediately identified the genuine within this book, very much as when I first discovered Muir in the Sierra Nevada.

Sublime

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I loved the mountains she loved, although I have never been there, and may never visit.

Thoghtful

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
An amazing essential book With a lot of spirit. Ecologist's dream bookSo relevant today and undoubtedly will Be for years to come

an essential

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
In the spirit of reconciliation, Audible acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.