Sebastien Jacquemont

As he teetered on a narrow rock ledge, a yak's bellow short of the stratosphere, with a rubber mask strapped to his face, a pair of mittens the size of a sea lion's flippers, and a drop of two kilometres below him, it's fair to say Mark Horrell wasn't entirely happy with the situation he found himself in. He had been an ordinary hiker who had only read books about mountaineering. When he signed up for an organized trek in Nepal with a group of elderly ladies, little did he know that ten years later he would be attempting to climb the world's highest mountain.

Le 30 mai 1940, Alexandre Yersin quitte Paris à bord du dernier avion pour Saigon. Il a 77 ans, ce sera son ultime voyage. Avec ce roman, Patrick Deville retrace le destin de ce scientifique atypique, aventurier et voyageur. Le jeune Yersin s'ennuie à l'Institut Pasteur. Très vite, il part en Asie, s'embarque comme médecin sur un navire, puis devient explorateur. Découvreur en 1894 du bacille de la peste, il s'installe en Indochine, multiplie les observations scientifiques.