The Prettiest Horse in the Glue Factory cover art

The Prettiest Horse in the Glue Factory

A Memoir

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The Prettiest Horse in the Glue Factory

By: Corey White
Narrated by: Corey White
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About this listen

 Corey White was a golden child. He knew this because his father would hit his mother and his sisters but not him. And his mother adored him so much she let him drop out of primary school.

After losing his father to jail and his mother to heroin, though, he became a target for cruelty and dysfunction in foster homes. A scholarship to a prestigious boarding school lifted him out of foster care and awakened a love of learning and reading for him, but this was soon overwhelmed by a crushing depression and drug addiction.

Through it all, he kept thinking - sometimes hoping, sometimes fearing - that he was destined for something bigger. Would he find salvation in the halls of a university, or a poetically grimy crack den, or through love? Or would the golden glow that had been in him since childhood ultimately fade, leaving only darkness and ruin?

The Prettiest Horse in the Glue Factory is a memoir of trauma and survival that will break your heart and then show you how to rebuild it. It is a powerful, lyrical and darkly funny debut from one of Australia's brightest young comedians.

'Equal parts hilarious and horrifying, Corey's story is one of the most powerful I have ever read.' Wil Anderson
'Look back in anger. Look around in acceptance. Look forward in love. Harrowing, and yet hopeful.' Tim Rogers Indigenous Creators Mental Health Awareness Fostering Funny Heartfelt Memoir Emotionally Gripping Inspiring Thought-Provoking Witty
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Loved this book. The way it is written is eye opening, confronting, heart breaking and hopeful. Thank you for a such a descriptive experience of the life of a child living in trauma and the foster care system. Just shows you the children hardest to love have been through the most. Will recommend this to everyone I know.

Amazing

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This is one of the best Audio books I have listened to. Hard to forget.

Raw, deep and gripping.

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I listened to this is in 24 hours - couldn't stop listening. It's hard to express in words the devastating hardships Corey has survived, I am just grateful that he has shared his story so earnestly and beautifully.

Thank you Corey

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A very moving memoir beautifully narrated. Provides an insight in the horrible and loveless side of Australian foster care and the tough road to recovery. I highly recommend this book.

Very moving but absolutely recommendable

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I had heard people say this book if equal parts hilarious (the author is a successful comedian) and tragic.
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Well... I must have missed the chapters with humor.
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This is one gut wrenching episode to the next, each a heart breaker, demoralising to an extreme. How White survived let alone today flourishes and basks in success is beyond me. His entire life to his 20s was an unending nightmare of physical, mental and emotional abuse firstly by first his parents, by a number of foster parents he was placed with, then by fellow students, his girlfriend and even responsible adults. It's a fast moving tragedy, chapter after chapter of negligence, intentional abuse and worse. Having said the above, the book is unputdown-able. It's a fascinating tale of courage, determination, and ultimately redemption. White writes in crisp, sharp paragraphs that help keep his story moving along.
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Would I recommend this to other readers/listeners? Categorically YES. It's one of those stories where at the end you'd like to buy the author a coffee and chat, and to ask questions.
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I think everyone will enjoy this remarkable story of a resilient young man.

Remarkable story of survival and triumph

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