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Original Title:	The Rose of Tibet
ISBN:	0749317167 (ISBN13: 9780749317164)
Edition Language:	English

The Rose of Tibet Paperback | Pages: 256 pages

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Several chapters in, feeling as though I’d stumbled into either or both of a H. Rider Haggard novel, or “Lost Horizon”, and looking for the film which really ought to have been made (starring Harrison Ford), I felt that I simply MUST find out something more about the author, of “The Rose of Tibet”, Lionel Davidson. On reading http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obitu... my jaw dropped open. What praise indeed from Graham Greene, Daphne du Maurier, Philip Purser, and Frederick Forsyth. What had since happened to this man whose work had been likened to John le Carré and Eric Ambler?

Do not omit to read the Preface of “The Rose of Tibet” Much valuable information is contained there; for the text of this book is anything but a quiet and sedate read.

Davidson cleverly and almost seamlessly sets the principle scenes of his fictional tale within the the mid-C20th history of Tibet. He then proceeds to blur the boundaries between fact and fiction by incorporating some of the real life characters of the time: the Dalai Lama, Heinrich Harrar, Peter Aufschnaiter, Arthur Hopkinson, his publisher, and others.

Whilst writing by reference to a collection of old Indian Ordnance Survey maps, Davidson makes no serious attempt to similarly mirror the topology of the factual Tibet. Rather refreshingly, I don’t think Lhasa was mentioned more than thrice.

Davidson pens such squealingly appealing tongue-in-cheek lines as “The proclivities of the holy women of Yamdring had come, certainly, as a great surprise to him. He didn’t think they would surprise the astrological correspondent of the ‘Hindustan Standard’ ”. Davidson kept this reader constantly on tenterhooks, looking to find out as to whether this book would turn out to be a complete ‘Ripping Yarns’ of an adventure; or something considerably greater?

Only on reading of a thousand priestesses, (remember, the real Tibet was, and is, very much a man’s world) did I wince slightly, before turning to speculate as to whether or not Ian Fleming might have borrowed more than a few ideas from Davidson! There again, looking at “The Rose of Tibet” from a different viewpoint, I thought it open to parody; but if that was subsequently done, I can think of no example.

Where Davidson really surprised me was by his ruthlessly subtle injection of superbly observed sharp humour into the story of high adventure in a strange land that he tells here so rivetingly well. The sixty-seven year old Governor of Hodzo (Ch.8) with his air cushion, is just one such picture of delight. The hero of this novel, Charles Houston (swiftly, in my mind, Harrison Ford c. 1981), is likewise probed, and found to be human “he saw that to survive he would have to exercise the combined talents of a Scheherazade and a demon lover, and he was not feeling up to it”(p.165).

There is so much that I dare not write here for fear of spoiling surprises within so very many perfectly believable yet unexpected twists and turns of the exhilaratingly adventurous plot. The final extraordinary escape through and out of Tibet, and the encounter with a bear, will forever rest in my mind as amongst the most vivid, precise, and exciting descriptive prose I have yet read. Right to the very last line, this book doesn’t let go of its reader. Why Lionel Davidson is not better known, and his books more widely read today, I simply cannot conjecture.

Declare Based On Books The Rose of Tibet

Title	:	The Rose of Tibet
Author	:	Lionel Davidson
Book Format	:	Paperback
Book Edition	:	Special Edition
Pages	:	Pages: 256 pages
Published	:	June 13th 1994 by Mandarin (first published 1962)
Categories	:	Fiction. Thriller. Adventure. Mystery. Historical. Historical Fiction. Cultural. China. Suspense

Rating Based On Books The Rose of Tibet

Ratings: 3.62 From 863 Users | 105 Reviews

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Nicely paced story set in the Himalyas.

An interesting concept in which the author explains the difficulties of publishing a thrilling true story when you dont have the direct permission of the participants or, indeed, any idea of the truth of the account allegedly dictated in a series of exercise books.The unlikely journey leads Houston, a mild-mannered schoolteacher, to attempt to discover the fate of his brother, missing in Tibet after a filming trip is hit by an avalanche, and possibly held captive in a remote monastery.Somehow,

My wife has an eccletic habit of picking up books past and present. She was right to pick up this one. This classic from 1962 by Lionel Davidson is as compelling today as it was 50 years ago. This is a story of adventure, intrigue and mystery that transports the reader into another world, the traditional Tibet of the Dalai Lama as it stands on the precipice of communist China's takeover. The protoganist stumbles into this world with minimal planning or forethought and we discover it as he does,

Davidson has been called the master thriller writer you've never heard of. He wrote at least two books in the thriller genre, 'Kolymski Heights,' and 'The Rose of Tibet,' - both are terrific reads. I was so involved in the story that I started waking early to read more--usually after reading late into the night. Be warned if you choose to read it yourself. There is a slow beginning involving a publishing company before the story gets going. It's as if Davidson is clearing his throat. Persevere.

Not sure what is real, what is fiction, and what really happened. I found the opening and closing of the book to be beyond my capacity to interpret completely. The story itself about the Englishman off to Tibet to save his imprisoned brother is compelling, but so many details are missing and at the end of even that story I am still trying to piece together the information. I found the use of pain and blacking out an excuse for the author to not have to close up the story with detail. Also, the

Decided to read this on the back of Anthony Horowitz's praise for it. Bad call. His main criticism of it was the introductory plot device but that is the least of its problems... It reads as it should, claiming to be based on the notebooks of someone who was delirious for substantial parts of the outward and return legs of his odyssey, and in the intervening period looked on what was happening through the lens of lust and an understanding of the world forged by reading too much Rider Haggard...

Jackpot! This Adventure / Quest story's only fault it it starts out with the worlds most boring, dull, insipid 7 Chapters. But once we start the travelog to Tibet, it's pure adventure with characters that pop right out of the page as authentic and well-rounded. This story has something for everyone.Religion, Rape, History, Treasure, Secret Passage Ways, Chinese Soldiers, Horses, Mountains, Winds, Death, Monks, Mysticism, Chants, River Rafting, and Falling Down Cliffs. Incredible descriptions.If