The Giant on the Skyline cover art

The Giant on the Skyline

On Home, Belonging and Learning to Let Go

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The Giant on the Skyline

By: Clover Stroud
Narrated by: Clover Stroud
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

What is it that makes a home? What is a home without the roots that tie you to a place? What is a home when a family is split?

Clover's eldest children are leaving home for university. Her husband Pete's work is in America. The only way for Clover and the younger children to live with him is to uproot, leave their rural life near the ancient Ridgeway in Oxfordshire and move to Washington DC. Forced to leave the home she loves and consider these questions, Clover sets out to explore the place where she lives, walk the Ridgway, understand a little of the history of her landscape and work out why it is that it is so hard for her to go. In doing so she paints a beautifully layered portrait of family, community and of belonging in a landscape that has drawn people to it for generation after generation.

©2024 Clover Stroud (P)2024 Penguin Audio Parenting & Families Relationships Social Sciences Marriage

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Critic reviews

'Clover Stroud is a fearless explorer of the human heart, and a writer of incomparable grace and passion.' Elizabeth Gilbert

'Clover's writing is sensationally beautiful.' Laura Cumming

'Stroud's writing is knife-sharp, beautiful and profound.' Madeline Miller
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Another outstanding, heartbreakingly honest memoir by Clover Stroud. I adored listening to her thoughts on the Ridgeway and the area that I now live close to and it brought me back to my feelings of own childhood home in the Cotswolds. She explores ideas around our connections to land, of being held by the earth and it knowing you, like a family member. In a world where we are becoming more and more disconnected from our surroundings and the natural environment we inhabit I would say this book is a sweet remedy.

Written from the heart and read beautifully

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I love Clover's writing, there's a deep well of wisdom in looking as an artist at the everyday, and articulating the feeling of living.

Beautiful lyrical expression of the real

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I loved going on this journey with Clover. I’ve read all her books and this has left me with a yearning to visit Uffington myself. Wishing her and her family all the best in America.

The descriptions of place, family and connection

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It really was extraordinarily tenderly written. A picture book inside your mind. Amazing and hope there are more to come.

The wonder that is Clover, transporting you to her life

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This is my fourth Clover Stroud memoir and overall it didn't disappoint. Some bits felt a bit more engineered than what I'm used to with her, ie as if they were added for emphasis and didn't feel a natural part of the story. But that doesn't take away from the beauty of the writing, how well the topic is covered and the overall heart and spirit that she writes with. I'll be looking forward to the fifth

Heart and spirit of the writing

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Beautifully written from the heart. A touching memoir of the process of understanding home, whether place, people or landscape. Absolutely captivating, soothing, challenging and honest. I loved it.

So beautifully written and read.

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This book has been a giant hug for me. Clover’s journey from the milky white chalk land of her beloved England to the US iron oxide tinted clay brick walls of her new temporary nest. Every chapter was an utter joy.
I can’t express how much I adore this piece of work. I too have the love of my home place running in my vains. I ache for the landscape of my childhood. Thank you Clover so much for your writings from your inner voice. 💚

A giant hug

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I love Clover Strouds’ books. This one about home was very interesting. Her descriptions, particularly of the natural world and her horses are magical and she’s a brilliant narrator. I really enjoyed this and could listen to her all day. Thank you Clover Stroud 💖

Beautiful and mesmerising

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I love Clover’s writing and the way that she makes connections with people, places and the landscapes that she inhabits. She is never frightened of going to places that are painful and difficult in her quest to understand and make sense of life.

Brave and Honest

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Lyrically written and so resonant of a landscape I know the magic of and love, alongside the concept of what home is. Clover Stroud shares such profound honesty with her reader that you feel connected to her and the raw power of her emotions. There is a clear thread of narrative throughout which kept me listening and deeply involved. A wonderful memoir.

Real, raw and a moving story, in so many ways!

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