Running for the Hills: Growing Up on My Mother's Sheep Farm in Wales

by Horatio Clare

Book Overview

"One summer's day in the late 1960s two young Londoners fell in love with a hill farm in South Wales. They had almost no money, no idea about sheep, and their marriage was uncertain from the start."... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 074327427X
• ISBN13: 9780743274272
• Release Date: August 2006
• Publisher: Scribner Book Company
• Length: 273 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.4" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Running for the Hills

I read this book last year, based on a short review in The New Yorker magazine. It is now a book I want to read over and over again, so I am buying a copy of it. When you read it you are there with the author as a child in the wild Welsh countryside, feeling the air, hearing the wind, experiencing the sense of isolation and the chill of fear of the unknown when a stranger lurks about the house. The author is able to convey so much: his confusion about his parents' situation, his mother's need to find herself as a country woman raising sheep, despite her urban, sophisticated background. He makes everything so tactile and visible that I think if I ever went to that part of the U.K. I would feel as if I had already been there. What as beautiful writer is Horatio Clare! This is a magical book. Read it. And read it again.

Superb Memoir

A poignant memoir of experiencing Welsh sheep farming with two-mis-matched parents. Clare's description of his life on the farm, the people and his parents made me feel as though I were there with him. He has an excellent descriptive ability that draws one right into the story. Having been brought up in sheep country in West Texas, I related to some of his experiences. Bettye Johnson, award-winning author, Secrets of the Magdalene Scrolls.

Wow.

Exceptional. The author has such a masterful command of language that finishing the book hurts. Believe me, I have zip interest in sheep, and I was left gripping the book until done. The ending had me medicating myself with cookies--such a sharp use of English, when aimed toward the melancholy, cuts deep. I recommend oreos.

Poetic writing

I could not put this book down once I began it, but also, did not want it to end. The detail and creativity in describing his incredible childhood and his mother brought back memories of my own Welsh summers. I originally bought this book for a friend, but decided to keep it for myself, and have since ordered three more to share with family and friends. Absolutely lovely writing---