Author:Clare Balding,Clare Balding
The unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of My Animals and Other Family, Clare Balding's wildly funny and deeply moving childhood memoir, read brilliantly by the author herself
'I had spent most of my childhood thinking I was a dog, and I suspect I had aged in dog years. By the time I was ten I had discovered the pain of unbearable loss. I had felt joy and jealousy. Most important of all, I knew how to love and how to let myself be loved. All these things I learnt through animals. Horses and dogs were my family and my friends. This is their story as much as it is mine'
Clare Balding grew up in a rather unusual household. As her father is a champion trainer, she shared her life with more than 100 thoroughbred racehorses, mares, foals and ponies, as well as an ever-present pack of boxers and lurchers. As a toddler she would happily ride the legendary Mill Reef and take breakfast with the Queen.
She and her younger brother came very low down the pecking order. Left to their own devices, they had to learn life's toughest lessons through the animals, and through their adventures in the stables and the idyllic Hampshire Downs. From the protective Candy to the pot-bellied Valkyrie and the frisky Hattie, each horse and each dog had their own character and their own special part to play.
The running family joke was that "women ain't people". Clare had to prove them wrong, to make her voice heard - but first she had to make sure she had something to say.
My Animals and Other Family is a funny, brave, tender story of self-discovery.
'Moving, funny and larger than life' Michael Morpurgo
'Magical, enchanting, riotously eccentric' Daily Mail
'Funny and moving, James Herriot meets David Sedaris' The Times
'Forthright, thoughtful, funny . . . reads like a Jilly Cooper novel' Sunday Times
'Funny and unexpectedly wise. Balding has lots of good stories to tell. It is impossible not to admire her honesty Mail on Sunday
'She can do anything. If there were four more Clare Baldings, we'd have our empire back. Six, and we'd be colonising the Moon. And there would be crumpets and ashtrays for everyone' Caitlin Moran, The Times
'The reading equivalent of snuggling by the fire with a labrador' The Guardian
'A funny, affectionate memoir' Independent on Sunday
'Charming, refreshingly self-depreciating, funny and moving. Balding tells it with immense flair' Daily Express
Clare Balding is an award-winning broadcaster and writer. She became the face of the BBC's racing coverage in 1998, and now works across a wide range of sports for television and radio. She has been a lead presenter for the Olympics, Paralympics, Winter Olympics and Commonwealth Games. For more than twelve years, she has hiked across the countryside for the BBC Radio 4 series Ramblings.
Clare has presented Countryfile, Britain's Hidden Heritage, Britain By Bike, Crufts, and Famous & Fearless, and has appeared on QI, Have I Got News for You and Sport Relief. She has been voted RTS Sports Presenter of the Year and Racing Broadcaster of the Year. She lives in West London with her partner Alice, their wayward Tibetan Terrier Archie and a cat who couldn't give a damn called Itty. My Animals and Other Family is Clare's first book.
Moving, funny and larger than life
—— Michael MorpurgoSimply fabulous
—— Jilly CooperA beautiful explanation of why Simpson's legend still exerts such a powerful hold
—— Sunday TimesAn enjoyable, clear-eyed biography
—— Times Literary SupplementThe definitive story of Britain’s greatest ever cyclist
—— Christmas books recommendations , Cycle SportA definitive insight into one of cycling’s most intriguing characters and tragic stories
—— CyclistThe mysterious world of cycling holds a certain fascination in the public consciousness - now more than ever following the recent home-grown success in the sport. The Secret Race lifts the lid on that world and delivers a shocking and jaw-droppingly frank account of what it's like to compete at the highest level.
—— Graham Sharpe, William Hill Sports Book of the YearA landmark publication... absolutely brilliant. The Secret Race stood out because it fundamentally changed the sport it described. I wish it hadn't had to be written, but it is a book that has to be read.
—— John InverdaleThe insight into the sporting mindset is uncanny; the detail unforgettable. A gruesomely compelling instant classic.
—— Sunday Telegraph, Sports Books of the YearThe book inspired in me not surprise so much as the occasional jolt of shock at the grimy practicalities and the odd drop of my jaw at the means Hamilton says that he, Lance Armstrong and others used to stay ahead of the testers and the police... A deep insight into the evidence that Armstrong refused to confront when he opted out of arbitration in the case that the US Anti-Doping Agency had built against him and his associates.
—— William Fotheringham , ObserverEye-popping revelations... The strength of Hamilton's testimony lies in the forensic detail with which he describes how the doping system operated and how riders managed to cheat the testers for so long.
—— Simon Redfern , Independent on SundayA searingly honest piece of work, a forensic and hugely important study of how a sport turned rotten.
—— Tom English , Scotland on SundayBrilliant... Daniel Coyle and Tyler Hamilton finally lay bare an awful truth and back it up with hard forensic evidence. The result is a book of searing honesty, the clearest possible description of what had been going on behind the scenes at many pro cycling teams for decades. The Secret Race draws the curtain back on cycling's cheating and corruption with admirable ferocity.
—— Burton MailGripping... extraordinary
—— David Runciman , London Review of BooksI wasn't expecting to be moved by Hamilton's book. He broke my heart in 2004 and he's a self-confessed cheat after all. But it is an honest, harrowing, eye-opening account that is a must-read for anyone interested in competitive cycling in the late '90s and the early 2000s. I came away with a better appreciation of the professional cyclist, under pressure to succeed. I came away with a renewed respect for Tyler Hamilton despite his misdemeanours. But most surprisingly of all, I came away with a renewed love of the sport. For underneath all the talk about things he did wrong - and he points the finger at himself more than any other - there runs a passionate dialogue about cycling. A sport that defines him. A sport that ruined him. But ultimately, a sport that is all the better for Tyler Hamilton's candid portrayal of life in the peloton.
—— Julia Stagg , Freewheeling FranceA valuable document and a well-timed one.
—— Gary Imlach , New StatesmanA gripping tale.
—— Chris Maume , Independent, Books of the Year 20122012 was the year in which a handful of books changed what we thought we knew about the games we love to watch and play. None more so than the recent William Hill Sports Book of the Year, The Secret Race. Cyclist Tyler Hamilton's confessional of his time on Lance Armstrong's US Postal Service Team, written with Daniel Coyle, is a fascinating insight. It revealed in such incredible detail the culture of systematic doping, in which Hamilton took part, that the whole sport was changed forever. Within a month of its publication, combined with the damning USADA report, Armstrong had been stripped of his Tour de France titles.
—— Ben East , Metro, Books of the YearA courageous act of witness.
—— The EconomistAn obvious choice, ultimately. A book that went beyond entertainment or education in their normal senses. This is the book that opened the world's eyes to the incredible doping scandal in cycling and the crimes of Lance Armstrong. A book that will be on almost all awards lists for books this year, and will surely migrate to the lists of all-time great books as its impact becomes more apparent over time.
—— Newstalk, Sports Book of the YearExplosive... a stunning and sometimes sickening account of the doping pervasive in the pro peloton.
—— Sports IllustratedHaunting... takes readers deep inside the gory cult of back-alley phlebotomy that ruled cycling as Armstrong launched and nurtured his Livestrong brand.
—— New York Daily NewsRich, magisterial account...Other books on Hemingway have tended to focus on his post-1930s literary decline and his machismo. The portrait that emerges from these pages is altogether more human
—— Ed Caesar , Sunday TimesHe has a tremendous feel for Hemingway, as both writer and man
—— Sarah Churchwell , GuardianThis is a portrait of the author which is likely to leave one feeling more warmly disposed towards him
—— HeraldMore a portrait than a biography, this book is a dazzling late example of "New Journalism"...the result is touching, revelatory and utterly absorbing
—— IndependentUnmissable
—— The LadyWhile much of Hemingway’s life may have been hellish, Hendrickson’s writing is a delight. A fine work
—— Fachtna Kelly , Sunday Business PostVery well told
—— William Leith , ScotsmanAn album of fascinating snapshots of Hemingway
—— Simon Shaw , Mail on SundayPaul Hendrickson writes with a great deal of passion…
—— NudgeA terrific and fresh approach to the man
—— Daniel Woodrell , Financial Times