#123 Clover Stroud: On Love, Loss & Memoir

Clover Stroud is a journalist and award-winning author.

We chatted a lot before the episode, I felt like I'd met Clover before. I think that's what happens when you read so much about someone's life in a book. We met at Hodder (our shared publisher) and we really did just jump straight into it from the minute I pressed record. Clover is such an articulate, warm, brilliant person in person. Her unique and beautiful voice shines all the way through her memoir.

Clover’s book The Wild Other is my favourite memoir of last year. A memoir that stays with you with so long afterwards, it is warm, it is sad, it is hopeful.

The book is about Clover Stroud's idyllic childhood in rural country - which was then shattered when Clover was 16 a horrific riding accident left her mother permanently brain-damaged.

The memoir is Clover’s journey to dealing with everything. It’s a memoir of travel and adventure too - travels to Ireland, to the rodeos of Texas and then to Russia's war-torn Caucasus, Clover eventually found her way back home.

The Wild Other is a grippingly honest account of love, loss, family and the healing strength of nature.

“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