Servants of the map

"Ranging across two centuries, and from the western Himalaya to an Adirondack village, these stories and novellas travel the territories of yearning and awakening, of loss and unexpected discovery. A mapper of the highest mountain peaks realizes his true obsession. A young woman afire with scientific curiosity must come to terms with romantic fantasy. Brothers and sisters, torn apart at an early age, are beset by dreams of reunion. Throughout, Andrea Barrett's most characteristic theme - the happenings in that borderland between science and desire - unfolds in the diverse lives of unforgettable human beings."--BOOK JACKET.