In his award-winning debut, Patrick French tells the story of a divided man, a classic repressed Edwardian who later led the way in outlandish philosophical and sexual free-thinking. Francis Younghusband single-handedly turned a small diplomatic mission in Tibet into a full-scale military invasion, later discovered a new overland route from China to India, and organised the early assaults on Mount Everest.

Patrick French set new standards for biography in Younghusband, redefining the genre and creating an endlessly entertaining classic