Product Description

Hugh Whittington has gone missing - reported dead while filming near Mount Everest. Determined to find him, his brother Charles embarks on a perilous and illegal journey from India into the forbidden land of Tibet, all the way to the monastery of Yamdring. There awaits a woman with a deadly and ghostly secret, an emerald treasure to guard and the invading Chinese Red Army. "The Rose of Tibet" (1962) is Lionel Davidson's second novel. His extraordinary and thrilling tale of a haunted land is among the very finest of its kind and prompted Graham Greene to remark: 'I hadn't realised how much I had missed the genuine adventure story until I read "The Rose of Tibet"'. Its combination of adventure and travelogue is further proof of Davidson's great variety as a writer, and caused Daphne du Maurier to say: 'It has all the excitement of "King Solomon's Mines"'.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1022843 in Books
• Published on: 2008-05-29
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 316 pages

From the Publisher
8 1.5-hour cassettes

About the Author
Lionel Davidson was born in 1922 in Hull, Yorkshire. He left school early and worked as a reporter before serving in the Royal Navy during World War II. His first novel, The Night of Wenceslas, was published in 1960 to great critical acclaim and drew comparisons to Graham Greene and John le Carre. It was followed by The Rose of Tibet (1962), A Long Way to Shiloh (1966) and The Chelsea Murders (1978). He has thrice been the recipient of the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger Award and, in 2001, was awarded the CWA's Cartier Diamond Dagger lifetime achievement award.

Customer Reviews

This book is one of the best I have ever read.
I was sad to see only there were only two reviews of this very good book. I have reccomended this book to many freinds and they all agree that it is one of the best novels they read as well. A real page turner and well written - one of my freinds said it qualifies as "liturature." I agree. So if you happen on this remote corner of Amazon.com consider this selection, you won't be disappointed.

The art of story-telling
In a lifetime reading addiction, this novel shares equal place in my affections with Bengtson's "The Long Ships" for sheer reading and re-reading pleasure; my paperback copy is absolutely tattered! Even the initial colour and background chapters are well-crafted enough to reward re-reading, whilst the later chapters are both alive and page-turning.
The hero of the piece, Houston, is a decidedly callow specimen, and his rise to the status of demi-god lover of a she-devil, and his metamorphosis into reactionary Imperialist dog and terrorist against the invading Chinese, is an absolute delight.
None of Davidson's characters are perfect, but their imperfections place them perfectly in the well researched (I hope) Tibetan world that Davidson has created. The only really honourable character is the native guide Ringling who deserved a better deal than he got for his loyalty and courage.
How this book has avoided being made into a film is beyond me, as is my inability to like any of Davidson's other books, (not that he's written many!).
This book has single-handedly stopped me from writing a novel of my own, I don't think I could even come close. One can't give a work a higher endorsement than that.

This is the best adventure fiction of modern times!
Although this is a fantastic tale, much from it is echoed by current events, from the Tibetan persecutions to the ongoing struggles of modern Himalayan climbers. This gripping adventure story is set amidst the quite real Chinese suppression of Tibet, although it evokes many parallels with Kipling's "The Man Who Would Be King". I only wish John Huston was still around to direct this book as a film, and Sean Connery young enough to play the lead; Kipling would be rightly envious - this book is better! I like most of Davidson's books, but the only one that's on a par with this is "Smith's Gazelle." His political thrillers are quite enjoyable, but not up the the level of LeCarre or Trevanian.