Why we’re excited
In 1994 two best friends, Liam and Petal, join an expedition to climb Mount Varda, a peak no one has attempted since the last team died there. As the group prepares in the French Alps, the climbers start to see things and sleep badly, and the mountain grows harder to read.
Julia Armfield's Our Wives Under the Sea drew a big literary following, and her story collection salt slow came before it. This standalone pairs mountaineering with horror and two love stories, told partly through an expedition leader's memoir. Literary horror readers should keep an eye out.
On our most-anticipated list since 22 October 2026. See all the most anticipated books →
What to know about Up to the Light
We have reviewed one of Julia Armfield’s books so far: Private Rites, which we gave 4 out of 5.
From the publisher
From Lambda Literary Award and Goodreads Choice finalist Julia Armfield, a novel following two climbers in the aftermath of an Alpine expedition that went horribly wrong, pitched as Into Thin Air meets The Haunting of Hill House, by way of Brokeback Mountain.
June, 1994. The storied Mount Varda has been untouched by mountaineers for decades: the last expedition ended in tragedy. When Liam Holness and Petal Coulson-Carter, best friends and celebrated climbers, are invited to join a team organized by the famous Jim Callaghan to pioneer a new route, they are initially skeptical. Working-class Liam and butch lesbian Petal exist on the outside of mountaineering’s privilege, and they have no interest in Jim’s media circus.
But the call of the mountain is too strong, and soon Liam and Petal are in the French Alps preparing for ascent. Joining them on the expedition is Bill Franklin, Liam’s oldest rival, whose sweet nature begins to break down Liam’s defenses, while Petal’s heart is turned by a climber’s widow living in the town. As the expedition looms closer, the climbers begin to experience sleepless nights, bad dreams, and hallucinations. And as they make their way up the mountain, the world gives way to something stranger. With oxygen scarce and the altitude dizzying, how can Liam and Petal be sure of what is real? And will they ever know what happened to those they left behind on the peak?
Braiding Liam and Petal’s perspectives with Jim’s tell-all memoir in the expedition's aftermath, Up to the Light is a heart-pounding adventure story and an aching dual love story, with a horror edge. Gorgeously written, chilling, and entrancing, this novel asks why we are drawn to danger, and how we can find one another again in the wake of unspeakable loss.
Description supplied by the publisher.
We haven’t read Up to the Light yet. When our review goes up, it will replace this page.
