AS THE GRANDSON of cricket legend Denis Compton, Nick Compton had a lot to live up to—and, as this book makes wrenchingly clear, the fact that he never really managed it has caused him much distress.
In childhood, Nick was obsessed with cricket to the point of isolating himself from other boys. Aged 12, he told his mother that if he didn’t get into the local club side, he “wanted to be put down like a horse”. When he was first selected for