Product Description

Liz Jones lived the perfect urban life. The immaculate Georgian townhouse in a leafy London square. The glamorous career where she would hob nob (not the right word: these people don't eat biscuits) with models and movie stars and fashion designers. The Italian wardrobe stuffed with designer bags and shoes. The much younger novelist husband. But then it all goes horribly wrong. She discovers her husband has been having numerous affairs (with women who are younger, dimmer, slimmer) and realises that her pursuit of perfection has never made her happy, and probably never will. And so she decides to start all over again, burying herself alive in the middle of the bleak, unforgiving wilderness that is Exmoor National Park. She buys a wreck of a farmhouse, with an original stable block, 46 acres, an ancient wood and a lake. She rescues a nervous and abused but breathtakingly beautiful racehorse, nursing the dream that she will be able to ride her thoroughbred bareback on the beach, spend her days wafting through flower-filled meadows, harvest her own organic produce and generally live out the rural dream. The reality, of course, is much, much harder. 'The Exmoor Files' is a funny, honest, often brutal real-life account of what it is like to start all over again in an alien environment. It is about discovering that you cannot find peace just by moving somewhere peaceful. It is about mourning for a relationship and letting go of the life you thought you deserved. And most of all it is about how Liz and her racehorse finally learn to trust, and to love, and to live, again.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2364 in Books
• Published on: 2009-08-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 272 pages

Review
"As an example of 'the truth about country life' genre, her book is brightly written and often funny" (Christopher Hart THE SUNDAY TIMES )

"Jones is a brilliant, witty writer" (Amber Cowan LONDON LITE )

"there lies a sort of steely courage: of a woman facing the process of ageing and mortality on her own, as best she can" (Jane Shilling DAILY MAIL )

"squirm-inducing, savagely funny.. you end up admiring her determined efforts to be happy, despite everything" (Claire Allfree METRO )

"Finding new friends, ruminating on her mistakes, looking back on a life of shopping and media-hugging, Jones finds a kind of solace in the bleak moors of Somerset" (Marla Jones CATHOLIC HERALD )

"a great tale and so very well told" (Paul Blezard THE LADY )

About the Author
Liz Jones is a columnist for the 'Mail on Sunday', Fashion Editor of the 'Daily Mail' and a former editor of 'Marie Claire'. She lives in Somerset.

Customer Reviews

Not what it seems
I really wish I hadn't spent the money on this tedious book written by a whining and bitter person. I was swayed by the fact that most Amazon reviewers seemed to give it five stars. Having now read it I wonder why.

I had never heard of Liz Jones before, never read her column. I was expecting the book to be about her move to the country and I assumed that, because she was moving to the country, she would therefore be a country lover. If she is, she managed to disguise it by constantly complaining about everything and appearing to hate everything - particularly her ex-husband (who gets about as many mentions as the countryside). And she doesn't appear to have found any bliss- rural or otherwise.

I have since looked her up on google and have read some interesting facts that she leaves out of her book.

I can't believe that so many readers have been enthusiastic about this writer who appears to me to be tremendously irritating and self-centred. I wish I had bought something else to read.

Tedious in the Extreme
When I picked this book up I thought it might be an amusing rural equivalent of Bridget Jones' Diary, instead it is pages of her whinging about her ex-husband and how awful life in the countryside is. This tedium would be hard enough to endure, without the trotting out of dated rural stereotypes - if Ms Jones had written about any other minority group in such an unfair and untruthful manner then it wouldn't have been published. Rural folk obviously don't get the same courtesy.

If it were possible I wouldn't have awarded this any stars at all. This book is one to avoid at all costs, tedious moaning and blatant untruths about modern rural life.

Dull and disappointing
After reading much of Liz Jones's columns in the Mail on Sunday I would have expected that she would have got tired of going on about her husband. It seems she has not and it made this book rather tedious because of it. I had expectations that the book would feature mostly about animals, their welfare and her rural life, when all I really remember was how annoying it was she was still going on about the husband and his infidelity. If I had known this was just a further chapter in the divorce I might not have bought the book. Sorry to be honest. The book is nothing like the recent marketing reviews in popular magazines recently