To the Roof of the World

In the press, on the radio, in the cinema and in books, a lot has been said of the hippie adventure, and a lot still needs to be said. On the famous Silk Road through Turkey and ancient Persia, young people drop out of their bourgeois background to conquer paradises of ancient India.

The stories told are always romanticized or second-hand accounts. But here, a young girl tells without justification or glorification, in all its humorous, sometimes dramatic, sometimes exhilarating truth, this adventure which represents her absolute quest.

Brigitte Axel is a writer, she knows how to observe and describe. The result is a passionate living document, and a story that the reader will feel a part of.

Part of the "bohemian hippie" movement in the 1960s and 70s, Brigitte left her cosmopolitan home in Belgium as a teenager to travel and experience the world during a time of great change.

To the Roof of the World documents Brigitte's experiences travelling as a young woman in the 1960s, often alone or with other young hippies. Between attending a prestigious art school in Brussels and getting deported from Kathmandu, Brigitte retells each story with colourful language and extensive imagery.