The ThursddayAddams Book Club: The Secret Life of Cows by Rosamund Young

Rating: 6/10

“W. H. Hudson said, ‘Bear in mind … that … animals are only unhappy when made so by man.’”

Rosamund Young’s The Secret Life of Cows was a 99p bargain I secured from the Kindle Store, and a book I read to end yet another sleepless night. Whilst it doesn’t possess the literary prowess I’d usually like in my literature, it was a pleasant, easy going read that I would recommend to everyone.

Why?

Well, for example, did you know that ‘it is extremely common – the norm in fact – for calves to establish lifelong friendships when only a few days old’? Young’s book is crammed full of facts about farm life; facts you wouldn’t have even considered to be true. They’re so endearing that it’s impossible not to smile when thinking about them!

Young establishes the narrative of her creative non-fiction novel by discussing the animals on Kite’s Nest Farm; a farm in which every animal has a name, a story, a personality, a family, a friend. It seems like the perfect way to raise cattle and sheep and pigs; there are no nasty chemicals, and animals suckle from their mothers for as long as they like and need. Of course, not every farm is run this way – not by a long shot – and many can interpret this book as ‘farm shaming’. However, if you take it with a pinch of salt, then what you get is a really nice book with a really nice narrative.

The way Young speaks about the cows is incredibly endearing; for example, “Nell and Juliet had both had their own childhood friends but their new circumstances threw them together.” It’s perfectly evident that Young is besotted with the animals on the farm, and that the relationship she has with them is truly special.

There’s some truly fantastic trivia in this book. “Mother pigs make the beds for their piglets. Pig’s tails are curly if they are happy and straight if they are not.” I mean, how can you not love that?

This book is perfect for some light reading; if you’re looking for a happy-go-lucky book to pick up when you’ve got the time, then this is the novel for you. It’ll make you desperately seek to either become vegetarian or alternatively, seek the most sustainable, eco-friendly, and animal-friendly forms of meat consumption.