How puppy love saved me

One Of The Family: Why A Dog Called Maxwell Changed My Life Nicky Campbell Hodder & Stoughton, £20

Maxwell gave me back to myself – unadorned, unvarnished, unspoilt. The only me he knows is the very best one – no affectations, worries, anxieties or jealousies.’

When broadcaster Nicky Campbell was nine days old, his birth mother Stella – an Irish nurse – left him for adoption at an Edinburgh baby home.

Many years later, when they were reunited, the first question she asked him was: “Do you like dogs?”

For Nicky, dogs have long been a source of comfort. As a child, he bonded closely with Candy, pet dog of the loving family who adopted him after a few months at the baby home.

He spent much of his childhood agonising about being adopted, worrying that he would forever feel like an outsider, and struggling to come to terms with feelings of rejection. But with Candy, he was able to shake off feelings of “otherness”.

As an adult, Nicky’s broadcast career went from strength to strength.

But his personal life was hedonistic and unhappy and he became intent, aged 29, on finding the woman who had given him up for adoption. A chance encounter with a private detective – a guest on his radio show – enabled the search.

If Nicky had hoped that meeting his mother would allow him to shed some of his demons, he was wrong. Stella was delighted to make contact but wanted more from the relationship than he felt able to give.

He struggled to bond with her, finding her needy, and feared he was slighting his adoptive parents by spending time with her. But one of their few areas of common ground was a love of dogs.

However, after Stella died, Nicky suffered a breakdown, stricken with guilt that they hadn’t been closer.

For the first time and with commendable honesty, Nicky details the breakdown, which led to his diagnosis of bipolar disorder, a condition that Stella also suffered from.

In a desperate attempt to bring Nicky back to himself, his wife Tina brought home a labrador puppy named Maxwell. Despite Nicky’s initial reservations, Maxwell quickly burrowed his way into Campbell’s heart: “When we’re alone together in enhanced solitude, the feeling of peace he brings, the golden companionship he gives me, is indescribable.”

At its heart, this is a poignant book about the search for belonging.

But as Nicky knows, the company of a beloved dog will always make you feel at home.