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My Father’s Keeper
My Father’s Keeper
Julie Gregory
¥54.25
A powerful and compelling memoir of growing up with a schizophrenic father, who hid his mental illness behind a charismatic larger-than-life, gluttonous personality and found logical explanations for the most bizarre ways of thinking. As a child Julie was close to her father. More friend than parent, he would belt her into their tiny car and they'd punch through yellow lights, scarf down candy bars before supper and had their own way of making fun of Julie's mother in a secret language of eye-rolling. She adored her father for his exuberance, and pitied him when he broke down in suicidal desperation. But as she neared 10, a darker side emerged: her father could switch instantly from squeaking out a tear as they harmonized to "Hey Jude" in the car, to pulling his loaded pistol on the man that asked for change in the McDonald's drive-thru as they waited. The isolation that came with the family's move to the country saw the wacky, unorthodox elements of her father's denied mental illness take a back seat to paranoid fear. Her father would tell her any boy who befriended her was just pretend-acting until he could rape her, and Julie came to fear all boys and men. He fell ever deeper into paranoid delusions that his daughter was sexually active, prostituting herself, sneaking out at night to sleep with black men. When Julie was 14 her father attempted suicide and was placed in a locked psychiatric ward. Julie was made to testify against her father, and when he was released he became convinced she had turned on him. Julie became the target of his ever more paranoid delusions. Julie left home before 18 but her father's schizophrenic behaviour bled over into her own life: if she couldn't find the hairdryer, she would check for signs of entry. When it later turned up, she would wonder how the thief broke back in to return it. Confused, lost and damaged from years spent as the only confidante of her paranoid schizophrenic father, but determined to survive, Julie was finally able to come to terms with her father. She was her father's keeper, and always would be.
Londongrad: From Russia with Cash; The Inside Story of the Oligarchs
Londongrad: From Russia with Cash; The Inside Story of the Oligarchs
Mark Hollingsworth,Stewart Lansley
¥66.22
The amazing true story of how London became home to the Russian super-rich. A dazzling tale of incredible wealth, ferocious disputes, beautiful women, private jets, mega-yachts, the world’s best footballers – and chauffeur-driven Range Rovers with tinted windows. A group of buccaneering Russian oligarchs made colossal fortunes after the collapse of communism – and many of them came to London to enjoy their new-found wealth. Londongrad tells for the first time the true story of their journeys from Moscow and St Petersburg to mansions in Mayfair, Knightsbridge and Surrey – and takes you into a shimmering world of audacious multi-billion pound deals, outrageous spending and rancorous feuds. But while London's flashiest restaurants echoed to Russian laughter and Bond Street shop-owners totted up their profits, darker events also played themselves out. The killing of ex-KGB man Alexander Litvinenko in London to the death – in a helicopter crash he all but predicted – of Stephen Curtis, the lawyer to many of Britain's richest Russians, chilled London's Russians and many of those who know them. This is the story of how Russia's wealth was harvested and brought to London – some of it spent by Roman Abramovich on his beloved Chelsea Football Club, some of it spent by Boris Berezovsky in his battles with Russia's all-powerful Vladimir Putin. Londongrad is a must-read for anyone interested in how vast wealth is created, the luxury it can buy and the power and intrigue it produces.
Cut
Cut
Cathy Glass
¥62.59
Million-copy bestselling author Cathy Glass tells the story of Dawn, a sweet and seemingly well-balanced girl whose outward appearance masks a traumatic childhood of suffering at the hands of the very people who should have cared for her. Dawn was the first girl Cathy Glass ever fostered. Sweet and seemingly well balanced girl, Dawn’s outward appearance masked a traumatic childhood so awful, that even she could not remember it. During the first night, Cathy awoke to see Dawn looming above Cathy’s baby’s cot, her eyes staring and blank. She sleepwalks – which Cathy learns is often a manifestation in disturbed children. It becomes a regular and frightening occurrence, and Cathy is horrified to find Dawn lighting a match whilst mumbling it’s not my fault in her sleep one night. Cathy discovers Dawn is playing truant from school, and struggling to make friends. More worryingly she finds her room empty one night, and her pillow covered in blood. Dawn has been self-harming in order to release the pain of her past. When Dawn attempts suicide, Cathy realises that she needs more help than she can give. Dawn’s mother eventually confides in her that Dawn was sent away to live with relatives in Ireland between the ages of 5 and 9, and Cathy soon realises that the horrors Dawn was exposed to during this time have left her a very disturbed little girl.
In the Watches of the Night
In the Watches of the Night
Baldwin, Peter C.
¥223.67
Before skyscrapers and streetlights glowed at all hours, American cities fell into inky blackness with each setting of the sun. But over the course of the nineteenth and early twentieth century, new technologies began to light up streets, sidewalks, buildings, and public spaces. Peter C. Baldwin's evocative book depicts the changing experience of the urban night over this period, visiting a host of actors-scavengers, newsboys, and mashers alike-in the nocturnal city.Baldwin examines work, crime, transportation, and leisure as he moves through the gaslight era, exploring the spread of modern police forces and the emergence of late-night entertainment, to the era of electricity, when social campaigns sought to remove women and children from public areas at night. While many people celebrated the transition from darkness to light as the arrival of twenty-four hours of daytime, Baldwin shows that certain social patterns remained, including the danger of street crime and the skewed gender profile of night work. Sweeping us from concert halls and brothels to streetcars and industrial forges, In the Watches of the Night is an illuminating study of a vital era in American urban history.
Politics and Partnerships
Politics and Partnerships
Elisabeth S. Clemens and Doug Guthrie
¥206.01
Exhorting people to volunteer is part of the everyday vocabulary of American politics. Routinely, members of both major parties call for partnerships between government and nonprofit organizations. These entreaties increase dramatically during times of crisis, and the voluntary efforts of ordinary citizens are now seen as a necessary supplement to government intervention.But despite the ubiquity of the idea of volunteerism in public policy debates, analysis of its role in American governance has been fragmented. Bringing together a diverse set of disciplinary approaches, Politics and Partnerships is a thorough examination of the place of voluntary associations in political history and an astute investigation into contemporary experiments in reshaping that role. The essays here reveal the key role nonprofits have played in the evolution of both the workplace and welfare and illuminate the way that government's retreat from welfare has radically altered the relationship between nonprofits and corporations.
The Times Cricket Quiz Book
The Times Cricket Quiz Book
Chris Bradshaw
¥54.25
The definitive cricket quiz book with 2000 quality questions on all aspects of the game. Since England won the Ashes in 2005 cricket has enjoyed a resurgence in popularity. This book will appeal to quiz goers but also to cricket enthusiasts to enjoy as an informative read. Some of the facts and brainteasers will amuse and entertain as well. Questions allude to all facets of the game including the laws of cricket, the politics, the history, the venues, the teams, the players, the results and the winners and the losers. The major tournaments are covered - the Test Matches, One Day Internationals, The World Cup, Twenty 20, County Cricket and Ashes contests. Each quiz deals with a single category such as a county, a venue or a player but there are also some quirkier sections such as 'Cricket's Bad Boys', 'The Big Hitters', 'Players nicknames and middle names'. The questions vary in their level of difficulty and follow the formats listed here: ? straightforward question and answer ? true or false ? who am I? ? anagrams e.g. which player's name is an anagram of 'Fanned off twirl' ? who said? ? brainteaser e.g. which England player's name end in the letter i?
In Search of Robert Millar
In Search of Robert Millar
Richard Moore
¥72.40
The compelling story of Britain’s best-ever cyclist – one of the most enigmatic, complex and contradictory athletes in any sport – and the unravelling of the puzzle surrounding his sudden and dramatic disappearance. Fully updated with new material on the enigmatic Millar. Cyclist Robert Millar came from one of Europe’s most industrialised cities, Glasgow, to excel in the most unlikely terrain – over the high mountain passes of the Pyrenees and the Alps. He was crowned King of the Mountains during the 1984 Tour de France and remains the only ever Briton to finish on the podium of the world’s toughest race. In attitude and appearance he was unconventional – the malnourished-looking young Scot with the tiny stud in his ear who could be prickly, irascible and unapproachable – but to many followers he was the epitome of cool. Flying the flag for British cycling, this one-off original became a cult hero. In Search of Robert Millar will follow the career of this other-worldly character, from his tough childhood on the streets of Glasgow in the 1960s to his move to France and success in the world’s most brutal and unforgiving races, including the controversy surrounding his positive drugs test and his enforced retirement from the sport at the age of 36. It examines what set Millar apart from all other British cyclists who tried, and failed, to make an impact in this most European of sports, describing his single-mindedness, his eccentricity and the humour and intelligence that emerged only towards the end of his career. It also proffers explanations for his subsequent disappearance, which repeated a familiar pattern: he vanished from Glasgow and never returned; he left his wife and son and his adopted country, France. Now, it appears, he has turned his back on cycling (amid rumours that he had undergone a sex-change operation). Through interviews with Millar’s friends, acquaintances, cycling colleagues and ex-classmates, author Richard Moore helps to unravel the mystery of this maverick Scotsman, arguably one of the greatest enigmas in a sport full of remarkable characters.
For the Love of Julie
For the Love of Julie
Ann Ming
¥45.62
In this incredible and moving memoir, a mother tells of her fight for justice to convict her daughter’s murderer for a crime that he thought could never be punished. When her 22-year-old daughter, Julie, went missing in the night, Ann Ming was certain she had been murdered. Three months later she found her child's decomposing body behind a bath panel. A violent local man, Billy Dunlop, was tried for her murder but a series of blunders allowed him to walk free. Knowing he could not be tried again under the law of Double Jeopardy, he callously bragged about his 'perfect crime'. But Dunlop had not reckoned on Ann Ming… This is the extraordinary story of a fight for justice which she never gave up. A moving account of courage and determination, showing how much a mother's love can achieve.
Smell of Summer Grass: Pursuing Happiness at Perch Hill
Smell of Summer Grass: Pursuing Happiness at Perch Hill
Adam Nicolson
¥73.58
The Smell of Summer Grass is the story of the years spent in finding and building a personal idyll, sometimes a dream, sometimes a nightmare, by writer Adam Nicolson and his wife, cook and gardener, Sarah Raven. Without knowing one end of a hay baler from the other, Adam Nicolson and Sarah Raven, fed up with London and with life, escaped with his family to a run-down farm in the Sussex Weald. Looking for Arcadia, they found a mixture of intense beauty and profound chaos. Over three years they struggled with dock leaves, spring flowers, bloody-minded sheep and neighbours before eventually arriving at some kind of equilibrium. Funny, poetic, ironic and wise, ‘The Smell of Summer Grass’ is based partly on the long out of print 'Perch Hill'. It traces the growing intimacy between man and his chosen place, his love affair with it and his frustrations with its intractable realities. As an attempt to live out the pastoral vision, it makes one heartfelt plea: we should never abandon our dreams.
JLS: Our Story so Far
JLS: Our Story so Far
JLS and Dean Freeman
¥110.46
Hot new boy band JLS welcome you to their world ‘Brilliant’ Simon Cowell ‘The best band we’ve had on The X Factor by far’ Cheryl Cole Follow the hottest new pop act on their rollercoaster ride to fame… Since their huge success on The X Factor and The X Factor finalists tour, JLS are well on their way to becoming one of the biggest boy bands the UK has ever seen - The X Factor final last Christmas drew a record 15 million viewers. During the final stages of the show legions of teenage fans, dressed in the trademark JLS colours, flocked to see them perform in South London, resulting in the need for crowd control and massive national press attention. The JLS colours, Aston - blue, Oritsé - red, Marvin - green and JB - yellow, have been enthusiastically adopted by fans and a sea of JLS tops greeted the band when they travelled the country on the X Factor finalists tour. In their very first book, Aston, Oritsé, Marvin and JB each tell the story of their amazing journey from X Factor hopefuls to pop smashes. Beautifully designed, the book contains 125 exclusive never-before-seen photographs of the band including sexy portraits and captured private moments which can't fail to excite the thousands of loyal JLS fans. With their first single a massive number 1 seller and their first album due in October, 2009 looks set to be the year of JLS!
Justin Bieber - First Step 2 Forever, My Story
Justin Bieber - First Step 2 Forever, My Story
Justin Bieber
¥68.67
Join the world's hottest pop star on his rollercoaster ride to superstardom! His debut album has already gone platinum. He's sung for the President of the United States. His screaming fans have stormed TV studios and shut down shopping malls. Justin Bieber is a global superstar and now, for the first time ever, he's going to tell all in his very own book. Justin's story is the stuff that every kid dreams of. Growing up an only child in Ontario, Canada, Justin had a natural talent for music; he was forever singing around the house and taught himself to play drums, guitar, piano and trumpet. He entered a local singing competition and despite not having had any vocal coaching, Justin came second aged only 12 years old. But it was when he posted homemade pop videos on YouTube that Justin's dreams really came true: the videos quickly became a word-of-mouth sensation, garnering an astonishing 10 million hits. Months later, Justin was spotted by top music manager Scooter Braun who later joined forces with superstar Usher to sign *-year-old Justin to Island Def Jam. And the rest, as they say, is history. In his very first book, complete with free wall poster, Justin will tell the story of his amazing journey from small-town schoolboy to global superstar. Stunningly designed and jam packed full of exclusive unseen photos of Justin on and off stage, plus private captured moments, the awesome story of Justin's phenomenal rise to superstardom is a must-have for any true fan.
Dickens: History in an Hour
Dickens: History in an Hour
Kaye Jones
¥18.05
Love history? Know your stuff with History in an Hour. Charles Dickens remains – 200 years after his birth – arguably Britain’s most successful writer. Works such as Great Expectations and Oliver Twist have amused and inspired readers in all languages since their original publication in the nineteenth century, and have been adapted countless times for the stage and screen. Dickens: History in an Hour covers all the major facts and events surrounding Dickens’s life; the poverty of his childhood, his experience in Warren’s Blacking Factory, the evolution of his novels, his tours around America and Europe and his sometimes scandalous private life. Dickens: History in an Hour tells you everything you need to know about Charles Dickens in just one hour. Know your stuff: read about Dickens in just one hour.
Seeing Red
Seeing Red
Graham Poll
¥68.67
The most high-profile referee this country has ever seen, the controversial and opinionated Graham Poll, exposes the myth that referees are the game’s silent men, and opens the lid on the shocking and often unbelievable world of football that few outsiders get to see. Fully updated paperback edition with new chapters. Seeing Red is Graham Poll’s incisive insight into football from his prime position as the man in black, the one in control, the eye that sees all. A Premier League referee since 1991 and with ten years as an international referee, Graham Poll has handled some of the toughest games in the Premiership involving Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea, as well as European Championships and World Cups – in total over 1500 matches. What is it like to referee the biggest matches in international football? What really goes on between the players in the tunnel before a match and in the dressing room after? Who are the nastiest footballers? And the funniest? Who is the smartest manager? And are the bureaucrats ruining the beautiful game? Controversial and opinionated, Poll has crossed swords with some of the biggest names in world football and shares private conversations with the likes of Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho, Sepp Blatter and Steve McClaren, and the inside story behind controversial incidents involving Roy Keane, David Beckham, Patrick Vieira and current England captain John Terry, among others. Poll also talks about the infamous 2006 World Cup match when he failed to send off a Croatian player after three yellow cards in a crucial tie against Australia, returning home early in disgrace and with his career in meltdown. The games, the players, the managers, the suits – the most outspoken referee in the modern game tells it as it really is.
Geoff Hurst, the Hand of God and the Biggest Rows in World Football
Geoff Hurst, the Hand of God and the Biggest Rows in World Football
Graham Poll
¥84.66
Ex-referee and now fearless writer and football pundit, Graham Poll is no stranger to controversy. His latest book is an entertaining and provocative reappraisal of the major incidents in World and English football down the years – from Geoff Hurst’s goal in ‘66, through Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ to the infamous Battle of the Bridge in 2009. Graham Poll, England’s highest profile referee of the last two decades, refereed over 400 Premiership games, involving more than 1.5 million spectators, and at two World Cups, placing him at the centre of some of the most controversial incidents in football. So what does Poll make of some of the biggest rows in English and World football down the years? Would modern referees have reached different key decisions? What can the game learn from the mistakes of history? In this follow-up book to Seeing Red, Poll’s bestselling memoirs, we get an informative, frequently provocative but always entertaining romp through the pages of football history and the major incidents that sent shockwaves through the game. The book revisits in startling clarity all those much talked about football moments that continue to be the topic of pub debate among football fans the world over – and turns everything on its head. What was the real reason for the linesman giving Geoff Hurst’s goal in 1966 at Wembley? In the infamous Maradona ‘Hand of God’ game, why should the behaviour of Argentine players have helped the ref disallow the goal? How does Kim Milton Nielson, the official who red-carded David Beckham against Argentina in the 1998 World Cup, view the decision now? And was video technology used to 'convict' Zinedine Zidane of his World Cup Final head-butt? Framed with other fascinating football facts, personality profiles and colourful anecdotes, these stories and more – including football's most recent controversies – provide a rich seam of material for Graham Poll, in his usual no-nonsense style, to set the topical football agenda and to enrich our knowledge and understanding of the beautiful game.
Life in Rewind
Life in Rewind
Terry Weible Murphy,Michael A. Jenike,Edward E. Zine
¥53.76
‘Time equals progression. Progression equals death.’ This is a thought that consumes Ed Zine, a handsome, athletic, twenty-four year old. The victim of a debilitating form of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), Ed's illogical mind tells him that if going forward in time moves him closer to death, reversing an action will carry him away from it. The youngest of four children, Ed Zine's life was thrown into turmoil when his mother, the centre of his universe, died from ovarian cancer when he was just eleven years old. Not warned by his family that his mother was sick, and beaten and screamed at by his father on the night of his mother's death for leaving the lid off a jam jar, Ed was shell-shocked when his mother died and, for years, kept quiet about the fact that he witnessed his mother's last breath and never truly grieved her death. Ed's trauma over the loss of his mother manifested itself in bizarre physical affectations and as he became less able to articulate his sorrow and his pain he became more and more isolated from other humans. Thirteen years on, Ed Zine lived alone in a basement, meticulously counting and rewinding any action he made in an obsessive and illogical attempt to prevent his loved ones from moving towards death. All efforts to help him, from members of his family, and numerous medical professionals, had been in vain, until Dr Michael Jenike, professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, and one of the world's leading experts in research and treatment of OCD made the long drive to Cape Cod, Massachusetts. This was just the beginning of the extensive and difficult journey the two were to endure together…
Get Her Off the Pitch!: How Sport Took Over My Life
Get Her Off the Pitch!: How Sport Took Over My Life
Lynne Truss
¥66.22
From the bestselling author of ‘Eats, Shoots & Leaves’, this is the hilarious new book from Lynne Truss about her strange journey through the world of sport and sports journalism. ‘Years ago, Boris Becker famously said, after losing at Wimbledon, “Nobody died. I just lost a tennis match.” And while some people applauded him for his healthy sense of proportion, it didn’t ring remotely true. While I was writing about sport, I was caught on the horns of this dilemma for the whole bloody time. I was like the poor confused jurors in ‘Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland’ who sit in their jury box, writing emphatically on their little slates, both “important” and “not important” because they honestly don't have a clue.’ In this magnificent book, Lynne Truss charts her often bizarre wanderings during her time as a sports journalist for the ‘Sunday Times’. From covering a heavyweight world title fight at Madison Square Garden, to watching England beat Holland from an airship above Wembley (while eating chocolate cake); from her extravagant feelings about Andre Agassi, to covering sports like cricket (where, initially, she didn’t have any idea what was going on), Lynne Truss manages to crystallize exactly the essence of what sport is about, and bring her characteristic wisdom and wry humour to it. The book will be a revelation to sport's foolish doubters, and a treat for the many of us who spend too much of our time watching it.
Some Sunny Day
Some Sunny Day
Dame Vera Lynn
¥63.18
The remarkable autobiography of the last great wartime icon. Born Vera Welch on 20 March, 1917 in the East End of London, Dame Vera Lynn’s career was set from an early age - along with her father, who also did a ‘turn’, she sang in Working Men’s Clubs from just seven years old. She had a successful radio career with Joe Loss and Charlie Kunz in the 1920s and ‘30s, but it was with World War II that she became the iconic figure that captured the imagination of the national public. Her spirit and verve, along with her ability to connect with the men fighting for their country and those left behind praying for their loved ones, made her the ‘Forces’ sweetheart’. Performing the songs that she will always be associated with, such as ‘We’ll Meet Again’ and ‘Yours’, Vera toured Egypt, India and Burma to entertain the troops and bring them a sense of ‘back home’. Her career after the war flourished, with hits in the US and the UK, but Vera was never able to leave behind her wartime role and was deeply affected by what she had seen. Still heavily involved with veteran and other charities, this is Dame Vera’s vivid story of her life and her war - from bombs and rations to dance halls and the searing heat of her appearances abroad. Epitomising British fortitude and hope, Dame Vera gives a vivid portrait of Britain at war, and a unique story of one woman who came to symbolize a nation.
It’s Christmas!: Whatever Happened to the Christmas Single?
It’s Christmas!: Whatever Happened to the Christmas Single?
James King
¥18.65
Updated for Christmas 2013! James King is tired of ‘Step Into Christmas’. He’s tired of ‘All I Want for Christmas is You’. He’s tired – if it’s possible – of ‘Fairytale of New York’. It’s time for a new Christmas Classic. ‘It’s Chriiiistmaaaas’ is a festive journey through the decades via the most cherished seasonal songs of the last century – from ‘Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree’ to ‘Do They Know it’s Christmas?’. But beneath the nostalgia, are serious questions: is it always ‘Last Christmas’ for the December charts? Has the music buying public become like Noddy Holder’s Gran, telling everyone the ‘old songs are the best’? In this, his manifesto, James King takes us through the grand history of the Christmas number one, proving, once and for all, that the charts are ready for a new Christmas hit.
Robert Plant: A Life: The Biography
Robert Plant: A Life: The Biography
Paul Rees
¥70.44
Robert Plant is one of the few genuine living rock legends. Frontman of Led Zeppelin, musical innovator and seller of millions of records, Plant has had a profound influence on music for over four decades. But the full account of his life has barely been told … until now. Robert Plant: A Life is the first complete and comprehensive telling of Plant’s story. From his earliest performances in folk clubs in the early 1960s, to the world’s biggest stages as Led Zeppelin’s self-styled ‘Golden God’, and on to his emergence as an emboldened solo star. The sheer scale of Zeppelin’s success is extraordinary: in the US alone they sold 70 million records, a figure surpassed only by the Beatles. But their success was marred by tragedy. These pages contain first-hand accounts of Plant’s greatest highs and deepest lows: the tragic deaths of his son Karac and his friend, Zeppelin drummer John Bonham. Told in vivid detail, this is the definitive story of a man of great talent, remarkable fortitude and extraordinary conviction.
The Men Commandments
The Men Commandments
Christian O’Connell
¥72.99
The Bible For Blokes From The Daddy Of Breakfast Radio Foreword by James Nesbitt. Christian O’Connell has been a man nearly all his life. Well, once he was a boy, then he was a teenager, then a man, but you get what we mean. So who better to save manhood from devolving into one of those spineless newt things from the Guinness ad? For years women have had everyone from Germaine Greer to Bridget Jones to tell them how to be a woman, and who have men had? No one. That is, until now . . . For ten years Christian has dispensed wisdom and advice to millions of lucky radio listeners on every topic conceivable; but it was when he saw his wife reading, and laughing at, a book called “How to Kill your Husband”, that he realised he had to write this book. Men are confused about what it is to be a man in a world where men use moisturiser and eat sandwiches with rocket. They need help. The Men Commandments is a roadmap, a compass for men (not a sat nav - they’re evil!) With his outspoken humour and ironic take on life, Christian explores male-dom; celebrating all that is great about being a man and unravelling those mysteries of masculinity that have stumped women for literally minutes. Packed full of wisdom, advice, trivia, and cheeky banter, this is the must have book for men everywhere. Includes: ? The Man Quiz (a helpful quiz to establish real manliness) ? The 78 genetic differences between men and women (work for which Christian is expecting a Nobel prize) ? Manly Toilet Etiquette (real men do not speak at the urinals) ? The History of Men (it says a lot about the psyche of Man that early Neanderthal paintings depict willies) ? Men and their Mates (a relationship full of weird rituals, abuse and unspoken rules) ? The Real First XI ? The Men Commandments (the ten commandments that every true man needs to know)
Long Shot: My Bipolar Life and the Horses Who Saved Me
Long Shot: My Bipolar Life and the Horses Who Saved Me
Sylvia Harris
¥54.25
An inspiring and searingly honest memoir of how one woman had the strength and courage to change her life. Sylvia Harris was homeless, her children had been taken from her, and she was using crack cocaine. She is also a manic depressive. Now she’s a prize-winning jockey with the world at her feet. Sylvia’s life was dominated by the fear of a faceless madness that could take hold without warning, causing terrifying hallucinations, delusions and bizarre behaviour. These could at any moment fluctuate back to ruthless clarity or all-consuming depression. She had been labelled a ‘neglectful mother’, was beaten by her boyfriend, snubbed by family and neighbours and in trouble with the law. There seemed no way out. Until she discovered that her childhood love of horses could offer a means of escape, a sanctuary from her isolation. Sylvia felt the exhilaration and danger of riding, the joy of connection to these strong and graceful creatures, the redemptive focus and intuition of the race, the pure ecstasy of finishing, of winning, of beating her demons and all the people who never believed she would succeed, and never looked back. As unforgettable as Seabiscuit and as touching as Horse Boy, Long Shot is for anyone who has been at life’s lowest ebb – and survived.