Skip to content

The Only Genuine Jones

T

HE ONLY GENUINE JONES

by Alex Roddie

A challenge for honour turns into a fight for survival at 12,000 feet.

Beneath the polite veneer of Victorian society, a small group of eccentric men and women live double lives as mountaineers. The maverick rock climber O.G. Jones and a young Aleister Crowley are rivals in this dangerous new world. Both are brilliant and ambitious, but their concept of honour could not be more different.

Together their journey takes them from the Highlands of Scotland to the most lethal mountain wall in the Alps, where Jones is confronted with a terrible choice: risk death and dishonour, or allow Crowley to triumph and destroy everything he believes in.

Adventure and deception, the Victorian spirit of progress, and the savage beauty of the wild combine to make this a tale of the mountains like no other.

PRAISE FOR THE ONLY GENUINE JONES

“A smooth read … the author’s passion for his subject matter is abundant on every page.”
— TGO Magazine official review (April 2013)

“Read [it] as a novel and it’s a real page turner, building up a flawed but believable hero in parallel with a villain that manages to elicit feelings of sympathy at times. Read it as a mountaineering book and you’ll start questioning your own knowledge of history. Either way you’ll be left wanting more.”

— MyOutdoors official review


“This is extraordinarily accomplished storytelling – tense, taut and deeply atmospheric… The thrill of climbing is tangible, as is the sense of human frailty. This is an adventure story, a love story, a historical fantasy – but above all, this is a book in praise of the awesomeness of Nature and the men who risked their lives to be amongst it.”
— Susan Fletcher, award-winning author of Corrag, The Silver Dark Sea, and others


“… Aleister Crowley, the north face of the Eiger, murder and mayhem; really, what’s not to love? It’s a fine winter read. I cannot recommend this book enough.”
— Mike Hogan, author of Sherlock Holmes and Young Winston and others


“…very well crafted with a plot that hung together well and strong characters that pulled things along nicely… The whole alternative reality idea worked well for me.”
— Chris Highcock, author of Hillfit: Fitness training for hiking, backpacking and hillwalking


“Anyone with even a passing interest in the history of British mountaineering will recognise the names Collie, Raeburn and Crowley to name but three. The settings too will be familiar to anyone with a love of the mountains: the Clachaig in Glencoe and Wastdale Head in the Lake District being popular places in mountain lore then and now.”
— Nick Bramhall, outdoor blogger. Read his full review“Alex Roddie delivers a high altitude page turner … one of the most anticipated books in mountaineering circles in recent years and it certainly does not disappoint. Roddie’s climbing scenes are so engrossing that by the end of the novel you will feel that you have shared something of the cold deprivation on those icy mountain ridges. The author’s love of the mountains is evident throughout this book and his evocative descriptions of the mountain settings perfectly captures both the beauty and the often brutal and unforgiving harshness of these high places.”— 5* review by MLC on Amazon UKON THE WEB

Mentioned in Outdoor Books 2013: My Choices by Chris Townsend (Dec 2013)
An enthusiastic review by Alistair Young (Sept 2013)
Indie Book of the Day winner 15th of July 2013
Review on MyOutdoors
Chris Highcock’s recommendation on Cairn in the Mist
Nick Bramhall’s review on The Mountain’s Silhouette
Exclusive extract on UKClimbing.com

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

CHARACTER PROFILES


Owen Glynne Jones
Aleister Crowley
Oscar Eckenstein: the first true innovator of climbing equipment?
Professor Norman Collie