The Secret Life of Cows: Rosamund Young - Rilegato

One of the most charming and touching books I have ever read... Hilarious and intensely moving by turns. (Jilly Cooper)

Within a day of receiving this book, I had consumed it. It is engrossing and informative, full of charming stories as it makes the case for regarding animals as differentiated individuals ... An absorbing, moving, and compulsively readable addition to one's shelf of enlightened animal literature. (Lydia Davis)

A tiny, extraordinary book about cows and how they live; they have family groups and they certainly have friends. Now I feel I understand cows and when I see them in the fields I feel like saying 'hello' to them! (Clare Balding)

Wonderful book. Full of rare insights. Delighted it's being republished (beautiful cover too!). (Sheila Dillon Presenter of BBC Radio 4's Food Programme)

A small classic. But while her book is gently humorous, it is not a spoof. Cows really are diverse characters with eventful inner lives ... Drawing on decades of experience, Young has a serious message concerning non-intensive, compassionate farming. (Financial Times)

It's a plea for us to appreciate the complex inner lives of our inquisitive, loving, bovine friends, whom we arguably exploit more than any other creature on Earth - from what we wear on our feet, via our Sunday roast, to what we pour on our granola. It also makes the great point that we should not judge animal intelligence in relation to our own. (Matt Haig The Times Books of the Year 2017)

Young recounts tales of bovine love and loss to 'rehumanise' cattle in the era of money-driven factory farms. Her prose is curiously moving. I felt myself welling up a little at Young's account of being 'wrenched' from a deep sleep on a cold February night by a moo of absolute determination. . It was Araminta, a mother calling our for her sickly son. This touching book will have you looking at Friesians in the field - and even a nice bit of rib-eye steak - completely differently. (The Times Books of the Year 2017)

Illuminating ... Her small, but perfectly formed, volume weaves entertaining anecdotes and profound insights harvested from a lifetime of caring for cows ... A charming manifesto. (Sunday Telegraph)

Her insight is unexpectedly charming and fascinating - so much so that she has channelled everything she has learned about these creatures into a wonderfully evocative and enlightening book ... Many amusing anecdotes which illustrate the warmth of feeling between the family and their individual animals ... Touching ... A wonderful and heartwarming story.

(Mail on Sunday)

A delightful, spry and neatly crafted book ... An account of a deeply observant life, and a portrait of umpteen generations of pedigree cows . A powerful pastoral meditation on animal husbandry, one for which Young should be congratulated and championed. Her writing issues a moral challenge to us all. (The Sunday Times)

This farmer's observations of her herd is a rediscovered gem and a Sunday Times bestseller. 'Delightful . . . it alters the way one looks at the world.' - Alan Bennett