RATING: GOOD
SPOILERS!!!
The relationship between Patrick and Margaret starts to stagger dangerously. Margaret feels attracted to Rafiq, her assigned reporter, and they get on well. When she visits Patrick and sees that he is working with a very attractive woman, she feels jealous and starts to suspect. That pushes her towards Rafiq, and the turning point is when she and Rafiq go to a safari park and when she is taking photographs of a leopard, Rafiq saves her life when a lethal snake is about to bite her. She finds solace in him, but Rafiq stops things there. He confesses that he loves her, but he has been in love with a married woman before, so he knows it will lead to heartache. So he stops things then and there.
It does not help things when Margaret has a miscarriage. She didn't even know she was expecting a baby. and she feels very low, and Patrick comes up with empty pleasantries about her being young.
Margaret feels very miserable. Things at home are not better. Then the secretary of the newspaper phones her, saying that the government has take over the office. Solomon, the boss, has been arrested, and Rafiq is to be deported over the publications of the execution of some students. Margaret rushes to the airport and only gets to see Rafiq being taken to the departure gate, and Margaret realises that she may not see him again.
That also is a blow to her spirit. Patrick tries to work on their marriage, and she makes an effort too. Then she and Patrick talk that it has been a year since Diana's death, and that was something that they have never got over. Patrick thinks that what they need is to finish that climb. Margaret is not sure it is a good idea, but she eventually agrees. They ask a new couple friend to come with them, but they don't say anything about Diana.
Margaret realises that she is fitter now, so the climb is not so horrible as before. Margaret asks the guide that she needs to stop in the middle of the glacier because the last time she didn't dare to look down. What she wants is to pay Diana her respet. When that happens, Margaret loses her and falls in the snow, crying, and the porters have to help her. When the reach safe ground, Patrick shakes her, shouting at her, and then Margaret realises that her marriage is over. Then she tells her friends about Diana and what happened, and Everdene is sympathetic. When they reach the shelter, the couple and Patrick have come down with AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness), so they can't carry on. The guide tells Margaret that she needs to reach the summit on her own, and she eventually does.
I found the beginning of the book quite slow, but as the story progressed, I really got to enjoy it.
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