Deep in the highest valleys of the Himalayas, an isolated Buddhist kingdom has survived for millennia in one of the world’s harshest climates. The people of Zanskar are remarkably self-sufficient, sewing their own clothes, harvesting glacial streams to water their crops and foraging for herbal medicines. Life in this secluded Ladakhi enclave depends on collective restraint and strong community bonds. Belief in natural spirits reigns supreme. Then in 1980, the king convinces his people to build a road.

Villagers who had never seen matchsticks encounter lighters, gas cylinders, mass-produced clothing and electricity. Cash, once regarded as spiritually impure, becomes ubiquitous, and Zanskar finally enters the monetary. Children who learnt to write using slates will grow up to use smartphones. Old Silk Road trade routes give way to ribbons of bitumen.

When Fonti first visits Zanskar in 2018, she discovers that the preindustrial world is within living memory of many of the people she meets. Over the next six years, she traces the transformation of this unique society through her encounters with oracles, monks, a runaway nun, the region’s first nurse and postman, its last two kings and others. She discovers another side of Zanskar, one that moves beyond the narrative of a lost Shangri-La and sits uncomfortably within recorded history.

Shaped by nuance and sensitivity, The Story Keepers brings alive the disappearing stories of a society grappling with climate change and social upheaval while honouring its spiritual connection to the natural world.