A novel about a lonely mountain climber from the author of All That Is: “Beautifully composed . . . will remind readers of Camus and Saint-Exupéry” (The Washington Post). Vernon Rand is a charismatic figure whose great love—whose life, in fact—is climbing. He lives alone in California, where he combats the drudgery of a roofing job with the thrill of climbing in the nearby mountain ranges. Sure of only his talent and nerve, Rand decides to test himself in the French Alps, with their true mountaineering and famed, fearsome peaks. He soon learns that the most perilous moments are, for him, the moments when he feels truly alive. One of the great novels of the outdoors, Solo Faces is as thrilling, beautiful, and immediate as the Alpine peaks that have enthralled climbers for centuries. This ebook features an illustrated biography of James Salter including rare photos from the author’s personal collection.

In this, the first book-length study of Salter, William Dowie distills the essence of Salter's literary achievement and discusses the vicissitudes of literary glory. With copious biographical material based upon personal interviews and a twelve-year correspondence, Dowie tracks Salter from his Manhattan youth and West Point days through careers as an Air Force pilot, screenwriter, and journalist, to his blossoming as a writer of novels and short stories. What emerges is a portrait of the writer as a risk taker, willing to discard whole careers in his quest for literary immortality.