One of the Family

Long Lost Family presenter and Radio 5 breakfast show host Nicky Campbell reveals how the simple unconditional love of Maxwell, his Labrador, turned his life around and helped him come to terms with his difficult journey as an adopted child. Dogs have been the common link between the key moments in Nicky Campbell's life: there was Toby, the dog he never knew and who sat devotedly by his cot before his adoption, and then the adorable fox terrier Candy, who arrived soon after he was happily adopted. Nothing could replace the loss of Candy when he died suddenly, when Nicky was only eleven. Yet it took the arrival of Maxwell, an affectionate Labrador, for Nicky to uncover the simple truth a dog can reveal. The long journey he's been on to cope with the difficult emotions of his adoption, the discovery of his birth parents, his fears of abandonment and the solace he's taken in animals of all kinds, have led Nicky to truly understand the life-changing lesson a dog can teach us: that when we strip away our follies and foibles, the only thing we ever really need in life is love that is given and received freely and unconditionally - just the way a dog does. (P) 2021 Hodder & Stoughton Ltd