
Chicken Boy
My Life with Hens
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Narrated by:
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Arthur Parkinson
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By:
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Arthur Parkinson
About this listen
Brought to you by Penguin.
A captivating testament to the mutual rewards and delights of keeping chickens, by the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Flower Yard
Most of us want a dog, or a cat, or a pony when we are young – but for Arthur Parkinson, it was always hens. Growing up in an ex-mining town in Nottinghamshire, the other kids in the playground called him 'Chicken Boy'. The quiet fulfilment of keeping hens became his sanctuary, a tonic for mental and physical health, a connection with his family and the natural world. Illustrated with Arthur's own characterful watercolours and photographs of his ‘girls’, Chicken Boy is a one-of-a-kind memoir of a life in nature.
©2023 Arthur Parkinson (P)2023 Penguin Audio
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- Jim Schutze
- 11-04-23
Did not expect to cry.
I have kept garden hens in inner-city Dallas, Texas for more than 30 years, but I still learned tips from Arthur about tending them. I wrote about them in a local gardening column until I retired, and readers laughed at their antics and mourned my losses with me. Like Arthur, I am tenderhearted. I cry easily at the sight of a needy animal, but I did not expect to cry at hearing how Arthur tended to his grandmother in her last days. I listened to the book while I worked hard at autumn chores in the garden, and Arthur’s interesting chapters and soothing voice lightened the load for this worn-out, arthritic body.
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