An inspiring and searingly honest memoir of how one woman had the strength and courage to change her life. Sylvia Harris was homeless, her children had been taken from her, and she was using crack cocaine. She is also a manic depressive. Now she's a prize-winning jockey with the world at her feet. Alcohol. Lithium. Buddhist chanting. To quiet the voices in her mind, Sylvia Harris tried all of the above. At times, her manic behavior led her to dress up as a cowgirl and show off her imaginary rope skills in the middle of a quaint Northern California village, or spend the night in a torpor of fear awaiting the alien invasion she knew was on the horizon. At its worst, it led her to look for love in all the wrong places and create a family she had difficulty caring for. Although she sometimes found temporary relief and brief moments of calm, darkness always followed. At the nadir of her twenty-year battle with bipolar depression, Harris found salvation in the most unlikely of places: Cardin

Long Shot: My Bipolar Life and the Horses Who Saved Me

Harris, Sylvia

HarperTrue

Combine Seabiscuit with Manic—throw in a touch of HBO’s “Temple Grandin”—and you get Long Shot, a truly remarkable memoir by Sylvia Harris. A single mother of three, Harris was crippled by bipolar depression, until she discovered the miraculous healing and calming effect of horses—a revelation that ultimately enabled her to manage her illness, conquer the sexism of her field, and triumph as a champion jockey in the male-dominated world of horse racing. A fascinating, courageous, and ultimately redemptive true story, Long Shot has won high praise from Phyllis Chesler Ph.D., author of Women and Madness, who says, “[Harris’s] attempt to find balance, joy, connectedness, and purpose in life constitutes a great adventure story.”

Biographies & Memoirs

Community & Culture

Ecco

Harper Large Print

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Harris, Sylvia. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Harris, Sylvia

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Harris, Sylvia. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Long Shot: My Bipolar Life and the Horses Who Saved Me

Long Shot: My Bipolar Life and the Horses Who Saved Me

Long Shot: My Bipolar Life and the Horses Who Saved Me

Long Shot: My Bipolar Life and the Horses Who Saved Me