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  • Published: 19 September 2016
  • ISBN: 9780143799573
  • Imprint: Michael Joseph
  • Format: Trade Paperback
  • Pages: 304
  • RRP: $32.99

The Girl Who Climbed Everest: The inspirational story of Alyssa Azar, Australia's Youngest Adventurer




The Girl Who Climbed Everest is the inspiring story of Alyssa Azar, an ordinary girl from country Queensland who worked to ascend the world’s highest peak – the youngest Australian ever to have achieved this extraordinary feat.

‘I believe that nothing is impossible if you dare to dream, plan and take action. I’m an ordinary girl who simply refused to give up on a dream, and that’s all it takes to succeed in life.’

Alyssa Azar is unstoppable. When she was just eight years old, she walked the gruelling Kokoda Track, the youngest person in the world to do so. At twelve she climbed the ten highest peaks in Australia. Two years later she touched the top of Mount Kilimanjaro. Now, at the age of nineteen, she has reached the roof of the world: the summit of Mount Everest.

The Girl Who Climbed Everest is the inspiring story of how an ordinary girl from country Queensland worked towards ascending the world’s highest peak. Through passion, determination and immense hard work, and despite being turned back twice – once by a deadly avalanche and the second time by a devastating earthquake that nearly claimed her life – Alyssa is the youngest Australian to have achieved this extraordinary feat. She shares the thrills and heartbreaking disappointments on the road to reaching her goal, and explains how she finds the courage and motivation to keep going in the face of overwhelming danger and adversity.

Above all, Alyssa’s story shows us that we can achieve anything if we dare to dream big.

  • Published: 19 September 2016
  • ISBN: 9780143799573
  • Imprint: Michael Joseph
  • Format: Trade Paperback
  • Pages: 304
  • RRP: $32.99

About the author

Sue Williams

Sue Williams is the author of a number of bestselling books, including Father Bob: The Larrikin Priest; Women of the Outback; No Time For Fear – the story of shark attack survivor Paul de Gelder – and Mean Streets, Kind Heart: The Father Chris Riley Story.

Her other books include Left for Dead; Outback Spirit; Welcome to the Outback; Peter Ryan: The Inside Story and And Then The Darkness, about the disappearance of the British backpacker Peter Falconio, which was shortlisted for the prestigious Gold Dagger Award in the UK for the true crime book of the year, and the Ned Kelly Awards in Australia.

Also an award-winning journalist, Sue was born in England, and worked in print and television in the UK and New Zealand. She spent many years travelling around the world before falling in love with Australia in 1989. Since settling here, she has written for many of Australia's leading newspapers and magazines.

Sue's book, Father Bob, inspired the first edition of Penguin's immersive, interactive online reading experience, True Stories.

She lives in Sydney's Kings Cross with her partner, writer Jimmy Thomson.

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