Finalist for the Ernest J. Gaines Award
Finalist for the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Prize
Longlisted for the Crook's Corner Book Prize

“Compelling.”—The Boston Globe
“Poignant…heartbreaking.”—The Christian Science Monitor
“This one hits hard.”—Publishers Weekly

When Nate suggests that they attempt to be the first Black American men to summit Mount Everest, his younger brother Dixon can’t refuse. The two are determined to prove something—to themselves and to each other.

Dixon interrupts his orderly life as a school psychologist, leaving behind disapproving friends, family, and one particularly fragile student. Once on the mountain, Nate and Dixon are met with extreme weather conditions, oxygen deprivation, and precarious terrain. But as much as they’ve prepared for this, Mt. Everest is always fickle. And in one devastating moment, Dixon’s world is upended.

Dixon returns home and attempts to resume his job, but things have shifted: for him and for the students he left behind. Ultimately, Dixon must confront the truth of what happened on the mountain and come to terms with who can and cannot be saved. Dixon, Descending offers us a captivating, shattering portrait of the ways we’re reshaped by our decisions—and what it takes to angle ourselves, once again, toward hope.

“Outen understands first-class human drama.”
—Gabriel Bump, author of The New Naturals

“The most engulfing, transporting, deeply humane novel I’ve read in ten years.”
—Monica Wood, author of How to Read a Book