The Wild Other: A memoir of love, adventure and how to be brave
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By Clover Stroud
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2 reviews
SHORTLISTED FOR THE WAINWRIGHT PRIZE
‘Extraordinary, and a painful but invigorating read. I’ve never met anyone who has read it and doesn’t rank it as one of their favourite books.’ Dolly Alderton
‘This story – so fierce and brave and visceral and raw – will stay with me forever. Clover Stroud is a force of nature, and a woman who is fearless in the face of life and death. I loved it.’ Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat Pray Love
‘There is so much richly evoked life here… beautifully written.’ Cathy Rentzenbrink, The Times
‘This redemptive memoir will steal your heart; it will return it bruised but emboldened.’ Mail on Sunday
‘I have huge admiration for the spirit of this memoir, and its author: full of heart, bravery and adventure. A moving, gripping read.’ Amy Liptrot, author of The Outrun
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.
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This memoir by Clover Stroud makes for compelling reading. It is the true story of how life changed in an instant for Clover when her mother had a horse riding accident and is left permanently brain damaged. At sixteen, the home with her mother at the heart of it is broken. This is the dramatic and honest story of how Clover slowly put the pieces back together. She has to look after herself for the first time. She sets out on her new life journey, looking for peace and resolution.
The book is well written. Stroud tells it like it is, as she overcomes adversity. The story is emotional and gripping. It is a reminder of how fragile life is and how powerful the human spirit is. It makes for uncomfortable reading in parts as the author struggles to cope. But I couldn’t put this one down.
This is an achingly honest memoir. Clover was only sixteen when her mother was severly brain-damaged in a riding accident and her hitherto happy young life falls apart. It will be many years and four children later when her mother dies and, in all that time, she has not been able to communicate with her.
Horses play a large part in the author’s gradual acceptance of this tragic situation and many times she seeks to distance herself from her pain, but short term relief never overcomes the long term pain.
I did not find this book a comfortable read but it did open my eyes to the suffering of those who are ‘bereaved’ in adolesence and how they try to cope.
