Novel by James Hilton, published in 1933. Hugh Conway, a veteran member of the British diplomatic service, finds inner peace, love, and a sense of purpose in Shangri-La, a utopian lamasery high in the Himalayas in Tibet. --The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of LiteratureFrom the Publisher7 1-hour cassettesFrom the Back CoverOriginally published in 1933, Lost Horizon gained unrivaled popularity from coast to coast, particularly after Frank Capra's spellbinding 1937 film introduced audiences nationwide to its stunning tale of revolution, utopia, emotion, and adventure set in a hidden mountaintop escape known only as Shangri-La. When an uprising in Baskul forces a small group of English and American residents to flee, their plane crash-lands in the far western reaches of the Tibetan Himalayas. There, the bewildered party finds themselves stranded outside the protective borders of the British Empire, and discovers access to a place beyond the bounds of the imaginationa legendary paradise, the mystic monastery Shangri-La.New P.S. Edition featuring an essay by Kenneth C. Davis, author of Don't Know Much About History and Two-Bit Culture: The Paperbacking of America. can you download books for free Lost Horizon: A Novel
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful. Worth a Re-read, Great Escape NovelBy GeraldineI was happy to see this story available as a Kindle book now. I had read it many years ago in book form and after seeing the movie again, decided to give it a re-read. It really is a touching, beautiful story for the most part and I do like the book version better overall than the movie. I thought the characters were better in the book than in the movie and I liked how the story began better too.One thing that I've never thought "fit" in this story was how the pilot knocked out the original pilot and then threw him off the plane. Would this be how someone from a place like Shangri la would actually act? It seemed so violent to me, especially considering the battle that was going on on the ground at the time which almost certainly would have meant the death of the original pilot.If you want to escape to a beautiful place for a while, at least in your mind, this is still a worthwhile read. I like to think that it's true about this being loosely based on the actual people of Hunza in Pakistan. How wonderful to think that there actually is or at least was, a place close to being this idyllic.7 of 7 people found the following review helpful. A good adventure story with a twist...By fdoamericaWhat do you get when you mix a Brit with a Texas Oilman, a London Society female missionary and an Oxfordian highbrow who specializes in whining and negative thinking. Place them in the 1930s, shake well in a stolen aircraft, fly them to an unknown part of the world somewhere in the Himalayan/Tibetian and run them out of fuel.What you get is a bloody good adventure that is written a bit like a Kipling tale. The story begins in India and takes you to Shangri-La, located in the valley of the `Blue Moon', a place of moderate perfection. For in Shangri-La the cardinal rule is "moderation"- the key to extended life. In this microcosm of moderate perfection you will find a world where aging is retarded significantly and life exists to appreciate the aesthetic.Though the book was published in 1931, the "First Paperback Ever Published," it has an ageless `Celestine Prophecy' style. Of course it was not the first `Spiritual Adventure' story written but it was the first to incorporate first world technology (aviation) with spiritual wisdom. Not a romping, gut tingling, adventure tale, it does drag at times, but the ending has a nice twist and there are some adages that bring the read to a pensive pause. "People make mistakes in life bybelieving too much, but they have a damned dull time if they believe too little." Recommended0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. an oldy, but goody novelBy RJTThis may be a novel originally written and published in the 1930s, but it is still an enjoyable read today. As children, many of us had heard of Shangri-La, a place beyond our wildest dreams of peace and beauty, but Hilton took the idea and wrote a book about what might be. His characters are well developed and the story moves along nicely and ends in a way I did not expect. Many of the characteristics of the people stranded in this Shangri-La have vices, desires, feelings akin to our own in the 21st century. This is thought provoking and I did go back to read the first 2 chapters once I finished to be sure I had the backstory correct in my mind. I'll read this one again.