What do you think?
Rate this book


334 pages, ebook
Published July 10, 2018

“Even when you know it’s time, you refuse to believe that your body is broken. Your mind is strong, so you carry on for as many seasons as you can. You take painkillers to get you through the games: paracetamol, ibuprofen, tramadol, cortisone injections: any concoction the doctor can give. Post-game, we take sleeping tablets or diazepam in case the painkillers wear off during the night while we sleep and try recover. With all the injuries I’ve had, I should be glad it’s my last game, but deep down I’m not. I don’t know what I’m going to do next—midlife crisis here I come. It’s like leaving home again”
“I’m not Nick Renshaw the Rugby star anymore, who am I? What’s my purpose? If he was honest, not knowing who or what he was, it scared him. I can’t let Anna see me like this.”
“She wished he’d be animated by something. This shadowy version of Nick was hard to take.“

"She’s not worth crying about,” he said, stroking her hair gently. “She’s just a withered old tart, with more cosmetic enhancements than a makeup counter at Harrods.”






«Cerca di essere presente in ogni momento: nel rugby, nello sport, nella vita, perché, se glielo permetti, tutto può sfuggirti in un batter d’occhio. Quando la tua carriera si avvicinerà alla fine, desidererai di poter rivivere tutto daccapo, ma in maniera migliore, con più forza e più intelligenza… e senza infortuni.»
«Anna cara» disse dolcemente «stai dicendo così tante cagate, che sotto il tavolo stanno crescendo delle rose.»
“I feel lost. Like I don’t know who I am, like I don’t know where I fit into this world. What’s my purpose?”
“It wasn’t fair for all the responsibility of his life to weigh on Anna. He was a man and he needed to act like one. He needed to do this on his own terms.”
“Winning didn’t matter, rugby didn’t matter. What matters is what we have here. I don’t have the fire for it anymore. Here, with you … that’s where I want to be.”
