Paths of Glory – Review

Biographies chart the lifetime of a personality, detailing how they stood out to be different. Fiction on the other hand is purely entertainment. Problem arises when one tries to bring these two together, and fails to deliver. Jeffrey Archer’s new novel, ‘Paths of Glory’, has the same problem. I was not sure whether the story is a fact or fiction. To me, after the initial pages and the casual search in the internet, it was revealed that the main lead in the novel, George Mallory Leigh, was a real person and not the author’s imagination. From there it became complicated for me. I couldn’t decide whether I was reading a biography or a fiction. I am not saying that the novel is bad. It has a good storyline, and Archer being the master story teller makes you turn the pages with anticipation. But somewhere a doubt lingers in the mind of the readers about the ‘realness’ of a particular incident. The climax was kind of a disappointment for me, with the author imagining the fate of the climbers, which till today remains a mystery in reality (as per the internet sources). Read ‘Paths of Glory’ if you are a fan of Jeffrey Archer. I did.