This Sporting Life

<p><b>WINNER OF THE MACMILLAN PRIZE FOR FICTION</b><br><br>'Extraordinarily mature - technically as well as emotionally' <i>Sunday Times</i><br><br>Arthur Machin's life changes when he is picked for the Rugby league team in his local town. Once a struggling coal miner's son now he can buy what he likes - a car a fur coat for his widowed landlady Mrs Hammond who is becoming something more. But fame makes a mess of things. Machin is troubled by advances from the boss's wife he challenges the sensibilities of the comfortable classes and struggles to understand why his success fails to impress Mrs Hammond.<br><br>Gritty full of ambition and anger <i>This Sporting Life</i> is an unflinching and surgical dissection of one man's life and a rare foray onto the sports field in British fiction.</p>