It's a good story, but one that, in the hands of a less talented or more self-glorifying writer, could easily have become an unbearable book. "Somehow," she writes at the beginning, "against all the odds, I won a race labeled the longest and toughest in the world - a race I'd entered on a whim - and became the youngest person, and first female, ever to have done so." In her debut memoir, Rough Magic, Prior-Palmer describes her ride in all its pain, boredom, and ultimate glory. More importantly, she was obstinate, competitive and fanciful in equal measure - "a bundle of urges, a series of plunges." When her application to participate in the Derby was accepted, she became instantly determined to ride, and to succeed. Prior-Palmer had grown up with horses, and had an aunt who had been one of England's best riders. Unlike nearly everyone else, she decided to fill the next empty months of her life by competing in the Mongol Derby, a 1,000-km wild pony race across Mongolia. Like many of us, the British writer Lara Prior-Palmer wasn't sure what to do with herself when she turned 18.
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