Booted Out

Booted Out
A novel of altitude, memory, and the quiet courage of walking together

When six strangers arrive in Les Houches at the foot of Mont Blanc, they're promised a professionally guided trek around one of Europe's most iconic alpine routes. But the guide never shows up.

With no leader and no shared plan, the group must find their own way around the 170-kilometre Tour du Mont Blanc. Over thirteen days of sweat, snoring, and shared sandwiches, each hiker is forced to confront the baggage they've brought with them-emotional, literal, and otherwise. What begins as a hiking holiday becomes a quietly transformative journey through grief, friendship, forgiveness, and the absurdity of modern midlife.

Booted Out blends sharp observation with gentle humour in a novel that is both a love letter to the mountains and a meditation on what happens when you're forced to keep going-step by step, day by day. Woven with accurate trail details and vividly rendered landscapes, it captures the beauty of the Alps and the inner terrain of people learning to trust each other.

M. A. Clayton's debut fuses the intimacy of character-driven fiction with the immersive richness of travel writing. Perfect for fans of slow journeys, quiet revelations, and stories that linger like a sunset over alpine peaks, Booted Out will resonate with anyone who's ever wondered whether getting lost might be the best way to find yourself.