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The Yard
From lockdown blog to a number one best-seller. The Yard is the phenomenally successful debut novel from Grace Olson.
Depleted from her battle with post-natal depression, Grace longs for a life that is more than just work, child-care and endless laundry. A chance meeting with an aristocratic showjumper reignites her childhood dream of owning a pony. As fate leads her to a ramshackle livery yard, full of eccentric characters, she finds a young horse in need of training. With her complete lack of experience, life becomes a rollercoaster of challenging yet exhilarating adventures. Assistance appears in the form of a military-style riding instructor, a retired Gypsy Cob breeder and a wonderful, wise woman living on a remote mountain farm. By learning to listen to the silent language of the horse, Grace finds the healing for which she's been yearning.
Inspirational, uplifting and deeply moving. This bestselling debut book has helped so many people find their way to happiness. Join Grace on her journey from despair to joy thanks to the healing power of horses, farm animals and many eccentric characters. Laugh-out-loud moments abound in this charismatic memoir that readers can’t put down.
buy the YARD
The Yard is available from all good bookshops in Paperback. It is also available in Audio Book and on Kindle formats. Choose from the links below to purchase your copy today.
Amazon.co.uk
For UK readers, purchase The Yard in Paperback, Kindle or Audiobook.
waterstones
For UK readers, purchase The Yard in Paperback from Waterstones.
kindle (UK)
For UK readers, purchase The Yard as an Ebook for your Kindle.
Reviews
“What a book!
Read in less than 24 hours I just couldn’t put it down. It is very relatable and gave me the inspiration to be more confident again."
"This is a book about all the curve balls that life can throw at you, and how so many times there is a way through the minefield.......you just have to find it, by finding yourself. Highly recommended."
“It’s not just for horsey people at all. It’s very much for anyone who loves the antics of animals AND humans. It’s very funny and it will also move you to tears. You will love it – I promise you!”
my story
Once upon a time the world was gripped by a plague called Covid 19. It destroyed many lives whilst at the same time opening up opportunities for some people to radically transform their life.
I was fortunate to find myself in the second category. Unable to do my job of providing therapy for terminally ill people, I decided to fulfill a deep yearning to write a book. It began as a short story on Facebook and it immediately attracted thousands of positive reactions and requests for more. So I set up a page in which I posted a weekly episode of the story of my life with horses and crazy people.
The page gathered a following of wonderful souls all encouraging me to keep writing and requests for a book came pouring in. What moved me the most was all the private messages from readers who opened up their hearts and told me how much my writing was helping them cope with the isolation of lockdown. They brought me to tears. It was the most humbling experience and helped me to feel that I was doing something useful for others at a time when I was unable to do my therapy work.
So I wrote The Yard – How A Horse Healed My Heart and I dared to be as honest as I could about my experience with chronic and prolonged post-natal depression. It was a tough process to write a book and then expose myself to a professional editor. It certainly knocked away my ego! Once completed, the book went out to all the top agents in the UK. One by one they all rejected me saying that my book was not interesting enough. It was excruciatingly painful!
But my inner rebel thought “Sod them all! Self-publish!” Could I do that? Was I brave enough? Who would want to buy my book? The self-doubts were loud!
Fortunately, my amazing Facebook followers insisted I self-published and I am glad I listened to their love and kindness because here I am now, an Amazon number 1 best-seller!
I am thrilled to be able to say that this book has helped many a sad person find the courage to improve their own lives and for me that is the only success worth having.
my dream
My aim is to one day earn enough money from my books to use as an income so that I can provide my therapy work at no charge for people with terminal illness. My horses and my sheep are all part of my therapy team and the big goal is to own my own land where I can set up a ‘therapy farm’ helping people to find inner peace and happiness during the worst time of their lives.
When you buy my books, you are helping me to make this dream a reality.
Gallery
the artist
The wonderful watercolour that adorns the cover of The Yard, is a portrait by Ruth Buchanan. I’m actually looking at it now on my wall as I am writing this.
It was a stroke of fortune when the universe made me stumble upon one of Ruth’s paintings on Facebook of all places. I was spellbound by the depth and beauty of the piece. Who was this formidable artist, I wondered. Well, you can imagine my surprise when she turned out to be fairly local and a friend of a friend.
I am so glad I threw caution to the wind and booked a commission with her. It was tremendous fun and we are now firm friends. Ruth is of course the artist for the cover of the sequel to The Yard and I am looking forward to seeing her future work for the covers of the next two books after that.
Treat your eyes to a look at Ruth’s work here:
