‘The mountain snows melted and the swollen stream came rushing down the valley and past the lonely old house. The garden was full of little green shoots, the grass was fresh and sweet, and the flame-tree was bursting into colour.’ Ruskin Bond has spent a lifetime listening to the Himalayas, and the mountains, it turns out, have quite a lot to say. For the Love of Mountains is his love letter to the foothills he calls home. These are not the dramatic, ice-axe-and-frostbite kind of mountains, but the kind where a cherry tree blooms outside your window every spring without being asked, and a goat once ate your newspaper, and you were almost glad. These stories celebrate the small wonders that often pass unnoticed. Warm, gentle and deeply observant, this collection reminds us that the finest adventures are not always found on distant summits. Sometimes, they are waiting quietly at the foot of the hill.