The Breath of the Andes

Original title: Le souffle des Andes

Author: Bortoletto, Linda

Publication Date:

March 2021

Pages:

270

Original language and publisher

French | Payot & Rivages

Territories Handled

Netherlands, North America, Scandinavia

Genres

Animals & Nature, Narrative Non-Fiction

The Breath of the Andes

Original title: Le souffle des Andes

Author: Bortoletto, Linda

Synopsis

Walk, live, breathe. Linda’s return to the land of the living after a man tried to kill her.

Just a few months after having been the victim of a sexual attack while she was hiking the Sufi Trail, in Turkey, alone, in 2019, Linda Bortoletto decides to set off on an adventure of resilience and purification, taking on one of the most difficult treks on the planet, the Greater Patagonian Trail, which is said to “reward the humble and humiliate the proud.” Starting from Santiago du Chili, the Trail crosses the Andes for 3000 dangerous, totally untamed, and unmarked kilometers (2,000 miles), where the four elements (active volcanoes, raging torrents, apocalyptic windstorms, and sometimes impassably dense vegetation) reign. The trail leads Bortoletto to the end of the world, where she can reconnect with life.