Books, Mud and Compost. And Horses.

Pony Tails is a collection of four stories, written by actress Susan Jameson, who obviously knows her ponies. Each story features a different native breed: Connemara, Welsh Cob, Shetland and Exmoor. There’s a common theme of girls and their love for ponies, but each of the stories plays out in a very different, but just as satisfying, way. One thing they have in common is the sheer force and quality of their dialogue. The author has an excellent ear, and captures family bickering, conversation between friends, and business dealings equally brilliantly. In the first story, a Connemara pony is sold on and on as he’s small and backward. I loved this bit, when the colt is sold yet again: “Sure, doesn’t little Maureen ride him on her own, and her not four yet?” The dealer seemed to remember that little Maureen was “not four yet” last year either, but decided to let that pass. The stories are full of acute bits of observation like that. There’s Wendy, now an Exmoor teenager i...

It's been months since I did any sort of blog post. My dad died unexpectedly shortly after I wrote my last post, and I've found it tremendously difficult to get my brain into any sort of gear for reviewing. Anyway, kind Forelock sent me their most recent books, and I also found in a huge and much overdue study tidy up one of their earlier ones, so I'll be reviewing three of their titles over the coming days. First up is Lucy Johnson's Pony Racer.  Pony Racer takes a well known trope – the suffering child who is redeemed through the love of a good horse, and places it in this rosy-hued story of foster families and racing. Hero Tom has been taken away from his mother who has unspecified mental health issues, and who neglected and ill treated him. The effect this produces on Tom is to make it very hard for him to trust. He is convinced that he will soon be shipped away from the Heaven family (yes, really) and returned to his mother. He has been driven in on himself, an...