A JOURNEY THROUGH GRIEF
At the age of 25, I’ve only very recently started reading memoirs and non-fiction in the same way that I devour fiction, and I feel as if I have plenty of catching up to do. For anyone in the same boat who’s keen to get into memoirs, The Wild Other by Clover Stroud is definitely a good place to start.
While Stroud writes her truth, the language she uses is so beautiful and often unusual that it sometimes feels as if you’re reading fiction. The author’s life is so full of tragedy – or the parts she writes about are – that it can sometimes feel as if some parts have to be made up, even though they aren’t. The book opens with Stroud’s own struggles with postnatal depression. She describes exactly what it feels like to suffer with this mental illness, in a way that many wouldn’t be brave enough to do.
As a reader, you quickly learn that she is continually struggling with another tragedy in her life. When she was younger, her mum, an avid keeper and rider of horses, had a tragic accident and fell from her horse. Although she survived, she suffered terrible brain damage and now lives in a home with 24-hour care. The book becomes a journey of grief and self-discovery. Stroud grows to realise that she has never really dealt with the grief from what happened to her mother as she navigates being a mother herself.
One of my favourite aspects of the book is the repeated mentions of horses and of being among nature. Stroud continues to ride a lot herself. There is also the white horse on the hill close to where she lives in Wiltshire, which actually exists, very close to Westbury. This unbreakable connection to nature almost becomes symbolic of the author’s healing. It’s a sad and very powerful read.
Reviewed by Lucy Skoulding
