Review: Jessica Naomi Rise - After the Pony Club
I’ve had this lurking on the Kindle for a while, but had
forgotten about it until I was sitting at the vet’s with the cat. It’s a continuation
of Josephine Pullein-Thompson’s Noel and Henry series, and as you’d expect from
the title, looks at what happens now they’re at that interesting period between
a secure school-based existence, and making their own lives. And thereby, I
think, hangs whether you’re going to like this book or not. If you wonder what
characters would be like outside the confines of a children’s book, then give
this a go. I enjoyed it. If you’re not a fan of the Chalet Girls Grow Up kind
of fanfic, which takes a set of beloved characters and gives them anything but
the cosy existence they have in the books, then you’ll hate it.
The action centres around the Holbrookes’ house again, over
the Christmas holidays. Dick is back from Oxford, and finds his father has sold
his pony, Crispin, brutally, and without letting him know, for meat. Noel is
doing some rather desultory riding reaching, and Henry is on leave from the
Army. John is farming, and Susan is living at home, not doing a great deal
apart from being irritated by her family. It soon becomes clear that there’s
quite a lot more going on than that. Susan is unsure how much she likes John;
Henry knows just how much he likes Noel, but something seems to have gone wrong
somewhere. And Dick, poor Dick, is devastated by the loss of Crispin, and it is
the straw that breaks the camel’s back.
Without giving too much away, it’s Dick’s situation that you’ll
need to swallow wholeheartedly if you’re going to have any sympathy with what
the author has done, for Dick is struggling, and he is the pivot around which
everything else turns.
While I’m on the subject of Dick I was surprised that his riding
ability seems to have taken a dive, which is odd when he’s considered one of the
more capable riders in the series.
But other than that, the author does a good job of making
the characters sound authentically themselves, but just a little older. I particularly
enjoyed Rose’s portrayal of their shifting perceptions of how they should live
their lives, and that I think is the book’s greatest strength, because I didn’t
doubt for one second that the characters would behave in the way she has them
do.
If you do decide to take the plunge, let me know what you
think: I’d love to know.
Other stuff
Comments
I do seem to be in the minority though. Yes there are a few errors, dogs instead of hounds springs to mind, but I found it very believable, apart from Dick. He seemed one of the most solid, dependable characters and his riding was capable. I thought Henry would have been more believable as someone with a crisis......
I am hoping she is writing a sequel.