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The Mountain Story

Five days. Four hikers. Three survivors. From Lori Lansens, author of the national bestsellers Rush Home RoadThe Girls and The Wife’s Tale comes a gripping tale of adventure, sacrifice and survival in the unforgiving wilderness of a legendary mountain.

Nola has gone up the mountain to commemorate her wedding anniversary, the first since her beloved husband passed. Blonde, stick-thin Bridget is training for a triathlon. Vonn is working out her teenage rebellion at eight thousand feet, driven by family obligation and the urge to escape her mistakes. Still reeling from the tragic accident that robbed him of his best friend, Wolf Truly is the only experienced hiker among them, but he has come to the cliffs on his eighteenth birthday without food or supplies because he plans to take his own life.

When a series of missteps strands this ragtag group together in the wilderness, they soon realize that their only defense against the brutality of nature is each other. As one day without rescue spirals dramatically into the next, and misadventure turns to nightmare, these four broken souls form an inextricable bond, pushing themselves and each other farther than they ever could have dreamed possible. The three who make it home alive will be forever changed by their harrowing days on the mountain.

In his epistolary retelling of a decades-kept secret, Wolf Truly’s account of THE MOUNTAIN STORY is one of redemption and sacrifice; of the harsh realities of the wilderness; of coming of age at all ages; and of the remarkable ways we force each other to survive. Braving a Southern California landscape both unforgivingly harsh and breathtakingly beautiful, Nola, Bridget, Vonn, and Wolf are faced with the questions of how much they will sacrifice for a stranger, and what it will take to bring them home.

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LORI LANSENS was a successful screenwriter before she burst onto the literary scene in 2002 with her first novel Rush Home Road. Published in eleven countries, Rush Home Road received rave reviews around the world. Her follow-up novel The Girls was an international success as well. Rights were sold in 13 territories and it featured as a book club pick by Richard & Judy in the UK, selling 300,000 copies. Her third novel The Wife’s Tale is currently in development as a feature film. Born and raised in Chatham, Ontario, Lori Lansens now makes her home in the Santa Monica Mountains with her husband and two children.