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A young woman who lost her mother to climbing is resolved to summit India's highest peak, and instigates a treacherous and revelatory expedition, in this daring and lyrical novel.

Mysterium, known as Mount Sarasvati, looms over the Indian Himalayas as the range's tallest peak. Sarasvati Sara Troy is determined to reach the peak for which she was christened, and to climb it in honor of her mother, who perished in a mountaineering accident when Sara was just a child. She asks her father, a celebrated mountaineer and philosophy professor, to organize and lead the expedition.

The six climbers he recruits are an uneasy mix. They include his longtime friend Dr. Arun Reddy, a recent widower and Reddy's son, who often challenges his father; Wilder Carson, the acclaimed climber who is tormented by the death of his brother; Wilder's wife, Vida, a former lover of Dr. Reddy; and the distinguished scholar of climbing Virgil Adams and his wife, Hillary. Porters and Sherpas are recruited in India to assist and be part of the team.

The party's journey is harrowing, taking them from the mountain's gorge, into its sanctuary, and finally onto the summit, a path that evokes the hell, purgatory, and heaven of Dante's Inferno. As the air thins and this unforgettable journey unfolds, Sara emerges as a Beatrice-like figure, buoying her companions up the mountain through the sheer strength and beauty of her being. Both monumental quest and dreamlike odyssey, Mysterium is infused with the language of climbing and profound existential insight.

Susan Froderberg was born in Washington State and grew up hiking and climbing in the Olympic Mountains and the Cascades. She worked as a critical care nurse in Seattle before moving east to study medical ethics and philosophy at Columbia University, where she received her PhD. Mysterium is her second novel.

Neil Shah is the founder and director of the Stress Management Society and is an international authority on stress-management and well-being issues. He has helped thousands of people tackle stress through one-on-one coaching and workshops, and he travels all over the world to teach his unique stress-management techniques.