Legs Hearts Minds: How Burnley Football Club Saved My Life

Returning home from a work trip, too jet-lagged to fall asleep, Chris Jones opened his wife’s laptop intending to get some writing done. Instead, he found a series of text messages that would burn his world to the ground.

In the span of twenty minutes, he lost his wife and his best friend. Overwhelmed by sorrow and often terrifying rage, Jones contemplated suicide. He soon ended up in an emergency room, begging a doctor for help. That was the start of his journey to understand himself, to come to terms with his mistakes, to let go of anger and find forgiveness, and to give himself over to something outside of himself: an underdog English football team from an underdog northern town called Burnley.

How does one rebuild a life? Can something as simple as football give someone a reason to live, offering solace and ultimately meaning? In this searing, beautiful memoir, Jones learns who we are when we care deeply. His journey through heartbreak and healing becomes a moving portrait of modern masculinity - flawed, feeling, and profoundly human.

Chris Jones is a journalist and screenwriter who began his career covering baseball and boxing for the National Post. He later joined Esquire magazine, where he won two National Magazine Awards for his feature writing. His work has also appeared in The Atlantic, The New York Times Magazine, ESPN’s The Magazine (RIP), and WIRED. He has written three books.

© 2026 Chris Jones (P) 2026 DK Audio