The Sky Beneath Us by Fiona Valpy
An inspiring, uplifting story of love and loss, courage and adventure, from the bestselling author of The Skylark’s Secret.
1927. Violet Mackenzie-Grant is embarking on her dream of studying at the Edinburgh School of Gardening for Women. She doesn’t yet know that it’s a journey that will take her to Kathmandu and beyond, deep into captivating landscapes and cultures that are worlds away from everything and everyone she’s left behind in Scotland.
2020. Daisy Laverock has dreamed of retracing the footsteps of her great-great-aunt Violet ever since discovering her long-lost journals, whose accounts of plant hunting in the 1930s inspired Daisy’s own career. Divorced, and facing an empty nest, Daisy decides to embark on the trip of a lifetime. She arrives in Nepal, ready to start trekking in the shadow of Everest. But fate, and the pandemic, have other plans.
Stranded and alone, Daisy must fall back on the kindness of strangers, taking inspiration from Violet’s determination and resilience to keep going in the darkest of times. As she gradually pieces together the fragments of Violet’s story and uncovers long-held secrets, can Daisy finally reveal a path forward to her own future?
About the author
Fiona Valpy is an acclaimed bestselling author, with threemillion readers world-wide. Her novels have held the number 1 position on the Amazon Kindle charts in the USA, UK and Australia, and been listed as Washington Post and Wall Street Journal bestsellers. Translation rights have been sold in 30 countries for more than 70 foreign language editions.
Fiona is a patron of the Birnam Book Festival, Innerpeffray Library, The Teapot Trust and The Little Sherpa Foundation. Through donations from royalties, she’s raised £12,000 (and counting) for the global charity Médecins Sans Frontières and The Little Sherpa Foundation. When not writing, she enjoys daily dips in the River Tay and walking in the hills around her home in Dunkeld.
Review
‘The Sky Beneath Us’ is a heart-lifting tale that crosses countries, generations and cultures. I simply adored this book and it has cemented the fact that this author can do no wrong in my eyes. I have read a couple of her past books and they have taken me to Morrocco and Italy but this time it is the West of Scotland and Nepal, two places close to my heart. I spent six weeks with my mum travelling around Nepal so parts of the book took me back to that special time. The people there are some of the best and most joyful that I have ever met and I have very distinct memories even though I was only nine years old. Even without this personal connection this book is something special and I urge you to read it.
Fiona Valpy has managed to produce a book that is so very profound in its narrative but also its sense of location. She does this by doing thorough research into the historical details, the technical botany aspects and also the locations mentioned. This gave the whole story an air of authenticity which is rare. It is rich with details that make the narrative come alive and they fully transport you to the moment. Set over two timelines - 1920s Scotland and Nepal and then the present day (2020 onwards) they both follow the paths of two women from the same family. Violet is from the 1920s and is the epitome of a woman wanting to forge her own way in life by gaining an education in something she loves even if her parents don't agree. Daisy is Violet’s great-great-great-niece and has always treasured Violet’s stories through her letters and journals and decides to make the epic journey to Nepal to find out the rest of Violet’s life story. As their stories intermingle high up in the Himalayan village of Phortse it makes for an uplifting resolution.
Yes, this book in the latter half explores the time around lockdown and covid but it does so in an empathetic manner. The feeling of being in a bubble and being able to reconnect with family is something that I also experienced before my dad passed away in May 2020 and I found these sections of the book very moving and extremely well-written. But then anything that this author writes is done excellently and this story is no different. The prose transports you instantly, whether that is to an alpine valley or the Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh.
For me this is a special book, let me know if you pick this one up!
FYI 10% of the profits of this book is very kindly being donated by the author to The Little Sherpa Foundation which is aiming to bring greenhouses to the village of Phortse.
