A small-town family’s tragedy kept secret has a teenage girl turning to competitive rock climbing to find answers...and herself

When a dangerous challenge between two teenagers unravels the grief that has torn two families apart, it’s what ultimately brings them together. End Quote

(1888PressRelease) September 01, 2021 - Sydney, Australia - Deserted by her father and kept in the dark about her brother’s accident that she was too young to recall, high schooler Ashley Davies has her own secrets. When she enters a forbidden rock-climbing contest to teach her bully a lesson, she ends up uncovering old wounds about her family’s connection to another’s heartache. Climb, a new young adult fiction novel by Philip Barker, is a masterfully written coming of age story of resilience, grit, and self-discovery in the most heartbreaking of circumstances.

From the time she was five years old, climbing in the gigantic willow on the property of her family’s modest cottage in a rural Australian town, Ashley knew that climbing was what she wanted to do for her whole life. She daydreams on her school bus about exploring places like the mountains of Switzerland, the forests of Peru, the Arctic. From her baggy boy clothing to her gutsy and fiery attitude, Ashley wasn’t like the other girls in her high school.

“She had no reason not to like the town. It was nice. It was quiet...She knew that this couldn’t be where she spent the rest of her life…sometimes she felt that she wasn’t really made for her small town.”

It’s that daring attitude that gets Ashley into trouble when she’s found by the school principal scaling the grounds’ tall water tower, a challenge with her nemesis at school, Jacob. Her mother is furious but her wheelchair-bound older brother, Cameron, is unsuccessful in hiding his pride. Her actions do not go unnoticed, and she’s approached by the enigmatic school janitor, Ethan, about her raw and unbridled talent. Secretly leaving a climbing guidebook in the school’s eucalyptus tree, where he knew she would find it, Ethan encourages Ashley and makes mention of a climbing competition in Sydney in six months. The very same Sydney where her father decamped to after her brother’s accident. Ashley can’t possibly say no; it’s her ticket to prove herself to the vexing Jacob and to find her father.

“I climb because when I am above the world, I can’t be anywhere else.”

Ethan, an old avid climber himself, helps train Ashley for the qualifying competition. When she shows up one day for instruction, she is incensed to find Jacob there, also training with Ethan. Ashley is perplexed as to why Jacob and his family seem to hate her so much and speak badly of her own family, including her disabled brother. As things get embittered between them, Ashley’s life calms a bit when she befriends an affable classmate, Kyle, who is dealing with his own family drama.

As the contest nears and training carries on with Jacob and Ethan, Ashley discovers the devastating connection between their families, one that left her brother severely injured and Jacob’s sister with prosthetic limbs and the reason for her father’s abandonment. In peeling back the layers of secrets that her family has protected her from all these years, Ashley begins to learn what it means to have strength, commitment, and trust—and the support of her new friend, Kyle—to follow her ambition.

“Cameron had always told her to focus on her goal and never stop until you reach it, no matter how scared or uncomfortable you feel.”

Ashley’s journey to chasing her dream isn’t easy and has her overcoming obstacles including a dislocated foot, endangering her chances to compete. And when she puts herself in peril, recklessly scaling the water tower to stubbornly prove something to herself, the person that saves her life is the very one that has made her miserable all year—Jacob—and an unlikely respect ensues. In aiming for her destiny to be a champion rock climber, Ashley rouses her brother’s and Jacob’s sister’s hopefulness on life and helps the one true friend she’s ever had, Kyle.

Through his evocative and powerful story, author Philip Barker, an avid rock climber himself, skillfully writes of the wonder of new experiences, the pain of loss and tragedy, and the beauty of triumph and self-discovery in his debut young adult fiction novel, Climb, the first book in The Ashley Davies series. Barker expertly conveys the fascinating sport of rock climbing through a proficiency of jargon and skill that is seamlessly organic to his compelling story, sure to thrill those with knowledge of the sport yet also those looking for a poignant story of triumph over adversity.

Climb is available September 25 wherever books are sold. A special edition, containing a value-added rock-climbing rope segment and maillon, is available for a limited time at https://www.abbeydalecollective.com/. If you would like more information about author Philip Barker and Climb, book one of The Ashley Davies series, please contact abbeydalecollective ( @ ) gmail dot com or visit https://www.abbeydalecollective.com/

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