Andrew 'Sandy' Irvine has always been an enigma overshadowed both by his illustrious companion, George Mallory, and by Everest, the mountain they were attempting to summit on the day they disappeared. But this book, written by Irvine's grand-niece, clearly demonstrates that the 22-year old Oxford undergraduate, despite his relative inexperience as a climber, had engineering skills which made him an indispensible member of the expedition. Its interesting to speculate how the expedition would have fared had Siebe Gorman adapted the oxygen rigs to Sandy Irvine's specifications, as it is they didn't and 'The anguish over the oxygen apparatus is a recurring theme in Sandy's diary and by the time he got to Base Camp he had completely lost his sense of humour'.

Julie Summers is determined, and refreshingly unafraid, to show her great-uncle as a complete human being, so for the first time the reader learns of Sandy's affair with Marjory Summers, the step-mother of his best friend, Dick. Summers also clearly sets out Sandy's initial reactions of betrayal and jealousy when he first hears of Dick's engagement to his sister, Evelyn.

An important book which, to this reader at least, ensures that Andrew Irvine will be much more than Mallory's inexperienced protégé. ( )