Ian Ridley's beautifully crafted memoir shows there is no right or wrong way to grieve, and yet grieve we must. A moving insight. JULIA SAMUEL, author of Sunday Times bestsellers Grief Works and This Too Shall Pass. A fine meditation on life, love, death and grief forged during a gentle summer of county cricket. MICHAEL ATHERTON, former England cricket captain. If there's ever been a more honest, intimate, visceral, unflinching account of grief than this, well, I'd be very surprised. CHARLIE CONNELLY, THE NEW EUROPEAN. A heart-rending read. What Ridley has written in his wonderful book is a love letter to the game. JIM WHITE, THE DAILY TELEGRAPH. I have been immeasurably moved by it. VANESSA FELTZ, BBC RADIO 2. A love song. Like all the best such tunes it is a sad one, yet also, in the end, life-enhancing. ALEX MASSIE, THE SPECTATOR. Beautifully produced. A book that will bring comfort to many in that same sad but often inevitable place. Humanity is at hand. JOHN HOTTEN, WISDEN CRICKET MONTHLY. Candid and ultimately life-affirming. One of those rare books that takes you on a journey you didn't want to have to take but feel privileged to be on. STEPHEN KELMAN, BOOKER PRIZE SHORTLISTED AUTHOR. A wistful rumination on love and loss. Ridley balances fond recollection with candid admissions. SHOMIT DUTTA, THE TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT. Ridley's quiet reflection in the solitude of county grounds is a backdrop to an extremely candid and brave - harrowingly so, at times - study of his own grieving process. MATT DICKINSON, THE TIMES. A beautiful memoir. The Breath of Sadness is about music, food, books, hotels, holidays, films, flowers, cards, messages and presents. The things you remember; the things you find put away in drawers, the things that break your bloody heart. PAUL EDWARDS, THE CRICKETER. Ridley writes with feeling on mourning a loved one in a book that finds companionship with two similar ones written by the surviving spouse: A Grief Observed by C S Lewis and the more recent The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion. SURESH MENON, THE HINDU