Born To Run Michael Morpurgo

Editorials

• Daily Mail

  "Pitch perfect... this hardened book reviewer kept having to wipe away the tears"

• Synopsis

  Joy and heartbreak combine in this bittersweet tale of a champion greyhound's journey through life -- and from owner to owner! "The sack wasn't just drifting gently along like everything else, it was turning of its own accord. There was definitely something inside it, struggling against the side of the plastic bag, kicking at it, squeaking and squealing in terror. He had no idea what it might be, only that it was alive and in danger of drowning." When Patrick saves a litter of greyhound puppies from the canal, he can't bear to hand them all over to the RSPCA. He pleads with his parents: couldn't he just keep one of them? But nothing will convince them and Patrick cries himself to sleep -- only to be woken by a greyhound puppy licking his face! Patrick christens his puppy Best Mate, and that's what he becomes. Patrick's favourite thing is to watch Best Mate running at full stretch on the heath, a speeding bullet, a cheetah-dog. Until one day Best Mate is kidnapped by a greyhound trainer, and begins a new life as a champion race dog. Suzie, the greyhound trainer's step-daughter, loves Best Mate on first sight and gives him a new name, Bright Eyes.But what will happen when he can't run any more?

• From the Author

  Dear Reader,

  Some ten years ago we went to a rescue centre looking for a dog and came away with a lurcher puppy. We called her Bercelet. I remember looking into the cages and wondering where all these dogs had come from, whose lives they had been part of. All sorts of questions came at once into my head. Had the owner died? Were the dogs abandoned perhaps, or neglected or abused? What were the lives behind their eyes? Anyway Bercelet stayed with us and became one of the family, and when she died three years ago it was devastating for all of us.

  When Bercelet ran she ran like a greyhound. We simply loved standing there watching her. She seemed at her happiest at full stretch. She was very gentle and calm in the house, very attached to us and reliant on us for reassurance and affection. The more I heard of whippets and greyhounds and lurchers, the more I realised that they all seemed to be like this, very trusting and loving.

  Then I read an article in a Sunday newspaper about what had happened to some greyhounds when they were no longer any use for racing. Of course many ex-racing greyhounds end up in rescue centres and find good homes, but the newspaper article wasn't about the lucky ones. It seems that some 10,000 greyhounds have been shot and buried in fields over a period of about fifty years or so. Such callous cruelty on such a massive scale angered me greatly. The more I thought about it the more I wanted to write the life story of a greyhound. And this is what I've done.

• From the Inside Flap

  The bag wasn't just drifting gently along, it was turning of its own accord. There was something inside it, squeaking and squealing in terror. Patrick didn't think about it. He shrugged off his school bag and leaped into the canal.

  For Best Mate, being rescued from drowning as a young puppy is only the start of his adventures. From unwanted burden to favourite companion, and from pet to champion race dog, this remarkable greyhound proves that it's not just cats who have more than one life. Cast aside, kidnapped, adopted or living rough on the streets, Best Mate can always find a way to survive. But will he ever find a real home?

• From the Back Cover

  International bestselling author Michael Morpurgo has written a moving, compulsively readable story of an innocent animal and the people - both good and bad, both young and old - who shape the course of his life.