Le je u de la m ontagne et du hasard. A nne Sauvy. A rthaud-M ontalba, Paris, 1985. 16 short stories. 274 pages. 75 French francs. W hen I was given this delightful collection o f m ountain short stories, I had no real intention to read it all. I politely started to skim a page or tw o, but I kept on reading and could n ’t put it dow n until I had read every w ord o f it. It is no puzzle to me why this book has been at the top o f the best-seller list o f m ountain books in France for m onths in a row . It is beautifully w ritten, has hum or, fantasy, dram a and pathos. Clim bers will see them selves m irrored here with all their strengths and foibles. Or they will see others ju st as clearly. The first story is a delightful fantasy. The statue o f de Saussure and B alm at in C ham onix is in need o f repairs. The tw o bronze figures, hidden by scaf­ folding, leave their pedestals and repeat their clim b of M ont Blanc. In another, tw o clim bers, delayed by various am using m isunderstandings and problem s in preparing for their clim b, arrive too late to take the funicular to the hut. The next m orning their route is sw ept by a thundering avalanche, but they w ere not there. For those o f you who read French, this is a must! A dams C arter