Overview

The Hidden Fires is Merryn Glover’s journey into the Cairngorms with Nan Shepherd as a companion voice. We follow Glover as she returns to the mountains and tries to know them the way Shepherd did, through attention, time, and repeated wandering rather than conquest. The book becomes a conversation across nearly a century, where Glover tests Shepherd’s ideas against her own days in the hills and asks what it means to belong to a landscape.

Writing & Voice

We found the writing vivid and steady. We like how it stays close to what the body feels in mountain weather, and how it never turns the Cairngorms into a slogan. We also like how Glover lets Shepherd’s presence sharpen the experience without drowning out her own voice. The tone stays thoughtful, honest, and alive to detail.

Content & Perspective

We read this as both a personal return and a clear minded look at how we approach mountains. We move through specific days in the Cairngorms, and we feel the slow build of knowledge that comes from going back again and again. We also watch Glover weigh the pull of challenge against the quieter work of noticing. The result is grounded and human, with the landscape doing real work on our thinking.

Themes

The book explores belonging, homecoming, and the difference between being in a place and trying to master it. We see how time changes a person’s relationship with the hills, and how a writer’s words can become a map for living. We also feel a steady interest in identity, how we make a home, and what the Cairngorms can reveal when we stop performing and start paying attention.

What Worked

• A strong companion thread where Nan Shepherd’s ideas stay present and useful.
• Clear mountain sense that keeps weather, terrain, and effort real.
• Honest reflection that does not tidy the experience into easy lessons.

Minor Quibbles

• Some reflective stretches slow the pace when we wanted to stay out in the hills longer.
• We sometimes wanted a slightly firmer line between summary and scene.

Final Thoughts

We finished feeling that the Cairngorms are not a backdrop, and that real attention is the bravest way to meet them.

Rating: ★★★★½ / 5