DownloadThe Portobello Bookshop Gift Guide 2024

Land of Second Chances

The Impossible Rise of Rwanda's Cycling Team

Tim Lewis author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Vintage Publishing

Published:13th Mar '14

Should be back in stock very soon

Land of Second Chances cover

** Winner of the British Sports Book Awards 2014 New Writer of the Year ** The astonishing true story of the Rwandan Cycling Team

** Winner of the British Sports Book Awards 2014 New Writer of the Year **

Where there is hope there can be redemption.

MeetAdrien Niyonshuti, a member of the Rwandan cycling team.

** Winner of the British Sports Book Awards 2014 New Writer of the Year **

Where there is hope there can be redemption.

MeetAdrien Niyonshuti, a member of the Rwandan cycling team. Adrien was seven years old when he lost his family in the 1994 genocide that tore Rwanda apart. Almost twenty years later he has a shot at representing his country at the Olympics.

Meet Jock Boyer, the coach of Team Rwanda. One of the top American cyclists of all time, Jock recognises the innate talent for endurance that the Rwandans possess. A man with a dark past, Jock is in need of a second chance.

MeetTom Ritchey, the visionary inventor of the mountain bike and the U.S. money man looking to recover from a profound personal crisis.

In The Land of Second Chances, Tim Lewis charts the incredible true story of the Rwandan cycling team as they overcome impossible odds to inspire a nation.

Fascinating... not a typical rags to riches, triumph against adversity tale... Lewis does a fine job of unpicking a tangled narrative * Observer *
A remarkable story... attempts to import the Lycra-clad, precision-engineered world of the Tour de France into rural Africa form the heart of this absorbing book...Team Rwanda’s story could have been edited into an uplifting tale of unlikely success, with Niynoshuti’s Olympic appearance as the rousing finale. Instead this is a more complicated, darker, account. * Financial Times *
It's a book that successfully melds many facets and characters. At times deeply shocking, always moving and occasionally very amusing, The Land of Second Chances is ultimately an uplifting story of hope * Wheelsuckers *
His meticulously researched work merits a wider audience than appealing to devotees of the biking fraternity – and will surely get one…. A good cycling tale and this one is a cracker * Birmingham Post *
An eloquent and compassionate tale by Observer author Tim Lewis. Perfect for: sport lovers after a leftfield underdog story -- Sam Dansie * Bike Radar *

  • Short-listed for British Sports Book Publishing Awards 2014 (UK)

ISBN: 9780224091770

Dimensions: 198mm x 129mm x 19mm

Weight: 213g

304 pages