I wrote this piece some years ago when I was writing my book, Heroines on Horseback , and struggling to complete the chapter on Ruby Ferguson and the Jill books . I am a grade A prevaricator, and like to prevaricate by researching anything other than what I'm supposed to be working on. I'd just bought a collection of Riding Magazines from the 1930s, and they provided rich, rich fodder for prevarication. I wrote an earlier post on the Cadogan Riding School and what happened to it in the Second World War, and you can find that post here . *** I have now finished my accounts, Holiday Club is behind me and I have therefore nothing to prevaricate about at all and no reason whatsoever for not getting on with wrestling some sense into my great thoughts about Ruby Ferguson, but like a horse turned out to pasture for the first time in the spring the freedom from duty has gone to my head, and my head has turned to the Cadogan Riding School, about which it wishes to know more. ...
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The Sun hasn't risen here yet but the moon is quite beautiful this morning.
Question for you: Do you see the resemblance between Michael Morpurgo's "War Horse" and Brian Carter's "Jack"? Just curious.
Morpurgo's "War Horse".
Jack is the name of a young man who grew up in Devon, and raised a horse named, "Bethlehem", or "Beth"
for short. Bethlehem is requisitioned for the artillary during WWI, and Jack, when he becomes old enough, joins the service.... I could continue on, but anyone can plainly see the similarities, which only become more and more as you read the two stories. There is not much difference between the book "Jack" and "War Horse", the book/movie, even to the French farmer and the French girl who take care of either Beth or "Joey",as the War Horse is named.
Why am I bringing this up? Because I'm curious as to the history of these two authors writing such similar stories, and if anyone else has made the same observation.