Lara Prior-Palmer: Rough Magic, Ebury Press (Penguin Random House UK), 9781785038860, paperback
 

Through this pandemic I have been magically drawn to travel non- fiction and by chance Lara Prior-Palmer extraordinary memoir found me which I tore through in record speed. Literally could not put it down. 

In 2013 Lara entered the Mongol Derby as a restless, bored 19 year old, supposedly the toughest horse race in the world which she never expected to win.  This race takes place over 10 days where competitors ride 25 semi wild horses totally unfamiliar to the riders, racing from ger to ger (Mongolian nomadic tents),  suffering through all the elements, hunger, dehydration and disease, often accidents occur, even death.  As Lara recounts her 10 days, I was pulled in by her observant, exquisite writing voice which gives this book such a literary quality and sets it apart from many memoirs.  She is a truly gifted writer and storyteller as she switches between childhood memories of an eccentric, privileged  family, her lifelong love for horses with a famous horse champion aunt, her scatterbrain self and the daily ordeal of the race itself.  Her portrait of the Mongolian landscapes and horses she rides every day, the people in whose tents she sleeps and the riders competing with her, while battling with her inner self  held me transfixed. 

I adored this book and hope Lara Prior-Palmer continues to write.