Sheffield writer Helen Mort combines her love of dogs and hills in new book

Helen, who adopted a whippet to get over her own fear of dogs, met search and rescue dogs, interviewed climbers and spent time on the hills with hounds while she was working on Never Leave the Dog Behind.

She said: “I’ve always been an outdoor enthusiast and I’ve done a lot of writing on the Peak District in particular. It’s the landscape I love the most. I grew up in Chesterfield and live in Sheffield.

“There’s something about going into the hills with a dog that’s different from when you go out with other people.

“There’s so many websites for people who want to borrow dogs and take them walking. I wondered why do we love dog walking so much, particularly in the mountains?

“That led me to meet some very interesting people and I got very interested in search and rescue dogs and what a great job they do.

“They give us so much and it’s not just about our pleasure in the hills - it’s about saving our lives.”

Helen travelled to Switzerland to see some of the famous St Bernards and met rescue dogs closer to home.

The cover of the book, produced by Sheffield firm Vertebrate Publishing, features her with locally-based search and rescue dog Scout.

Book festival defies pandemic

Helen said that she was really terrified of dogs until she was in her 20s: “I was that person who would run into traffic to avoid a dog on the pavement, which is obviously completely stupid.

“In the end the only thing that got me over it was diving in at the deep end of adopting a rescue dog, a whippet who went into the hills with me everywhere.”

As the mum of a toddler, she doesn’t have a pet at the moment but she now classes herself as a dog lover.

Helen is speaking about her book at an Off the Shelf event at the Crucible on October 19. The event will also be shown online.

She is also working on a poetry event for the festival, following a project working with older people about their reactions to Covid-19 that took her into care homes to talk to residents and staff.

Never Leave the Dog Behind is out in hardback on October 1. Pre-order for £12.79 at www.v-publishing.co.uk

Off the Shelf: www.offtheshelf.org.uk

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