The Wild Other cover art

The Wild Other

A Memoir

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The Wild Other

By: Clover Stroud
Narrated by: Esther Wane
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About this listen

'Extraordinary. I've never met anyone who has read it and doesn't rank it as one of their favourite books.' DOLLY ALDERTON

'So fierce and brave and visceral and raw - will stay with me forever. I loved it.' ELIZABETH GILBERT

'Full of heart, bravery and adventure.' AMY LIPTROT

SHORTLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE

Clover Stroud grew up in rural Wiltshire surrounded by animals and family. When she was just sixteen her adored mother had a horrific riding accident which left her permanently brain-damaged, and suddenly Clover was left to fend for herself. She embarked on an extraordinary journey to heal her broken heart, courting men and danger through two marriages and five children.

The Wild Other is a grippingly honest account of love, sex and travelling to the darkest edges of human experience and back again. Powerful and deeply emotional, this is the story of an extraordinary life lived at its fullest.

©2017 Clover Stroud (P)2017 Hodder & Stoughton Limited Animals Biological Sciences Grief & Loss Mental Health Mood Disorders Motherhood Outdoors & Nature Parenting & Families Personal Development Psychology & Mental Health Relationships Science Inspiring Health Human Brain Memoir

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All stars
Most relevant
I really enjoyed this audiobook , it is well narrated and flows well. The authors life is interesting but often really focuses upon horses which lost my concentration at times. However do not be put off this is a good engaging book.

A good listen

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Well narrated true story which is very readable (listenable!). If you have a love of horses even better as they are threaded through Clovers life.

Excellent book, raw with emotion

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I had hoped that Clover Stroud herself would be reading this audiobook as she was so excellent at reading her book The Red of my Blood. However, Esther did a wonderful job, and I enjoyed it immensely. Clover writes so well, and that’s an understatement.

Beautifully read. Beautifully written.

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This is a compelling, at times distressing memoir. The author was just 16 when her mother suffers a devastating riding accident. Although not a single bone is broken she's never able to communicate with her family again and spends the next 22 years mostly in residential care.

It would be enough to dissuade many people from ever getting in the saddle again but instead the teenage Clover leans in to the danger that horses now symbolise. Spells trading gypsy horses in Ireland and as a ranch-hand soon follow as well as a rather peculiar liaison with a circus performer in Chechnya.

Ultimately this is a life-affirming account of a life thoroughly well-lived in spite of or because of the intense trauma and grief of the accident. The book raises difficult questions about whether it is always better that a person escape death, and also the shocking decisions made by our care system.

Stroud doesn't mention that one sister is pottery queen Emma Bridgewater and another is Nell Gifford founder of the circus. Knowing this did make me marvel at the inner drive their mother must have given them before tragedy struck. Beautifully narrated too.

A wild ride

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I first read my wild sleepless nights and then I absolutely devoured my wild other. Her life story is captivating and I am a huge fan of horses myself. Reading this book made me reflect on many of my own life experiences and so took me on several journeys simultaneously.

Clover has a way of writing that makes me feel as though I’m right there beside her, seeing what she sees and feeling what she feels. I love her books as a form of escapism and also therapy!

I love Clover Stroud’s writing !

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