Warhorses of Letters

by Robert Hudson (Editor), Marie Phillips (Editor)

The world's greatest gay, equine, military, epistolary romance.

These powerfully moving letters were exchanged between two of the most significant warhorses in history: the dignified Marengo, devoted bearer of Napoleon; and the dashing Copenhagen, a slightly flighty racehorse who became the warhorse of the Duke of Wellington.

Originally made public by the highly acclaimed BBC Radio 4 series starring Stephen Fry, Daniel Rigby and Tamasin Greig, this correspondence has melted the hearts of many, and surprised a great many more.

Now the maverick academics who painstakingly tracked down each yellowing, crumbling cache of letters, have arranged and edited them into book form, adding a wealth of learned hoofnotes full of fascinating factual facts that will deepen the reader's understanding both of Napoleonic history and that sadly neglected branch of academe horsethropology.

Some readers may think they notice lots of facts that are less factual, often much less factual. To those readers, we offer the wise words of Marengo himself:

"Open your minds, open your hearts, you have nothing to lose but your reins."

Genres: Humor, Historical Fiction, Audiobook, Queer, Fiction

115 pages, Hardcover

First published November 23, 2011

Reviews

[Eva Müller · Rating 4 out of 5]

All I can think of is how the production-meeting at the BBC went, where they came up with that idea.

"I have a great new idea for a radio-series!"
"What?"
"An episotolary romance!"
"Yeah, cause we haven't had dozends of those, yet."
"A gay epistolary romance."
"Still not original enough."
"Set during the Napoleonic war."
"Please..."
"And they're fighting on opposing sides."
"Cause that is so new..."
"They're Napoleon's and Wellington's war-horses."
"That...What drugs are you on?"
"You don't like my idea?"
"I...no...actually I think this is a brilliant idea. Let's get Stephen Fry get to put on a French accent and play Napoleon's horse."
"Why would he write a letter in a French accent?"
"Why would a horse, a horse, write, write in the first place?"
"I see your point."

[Mir]

The world's greatest gay, equine, military, epistolary romance.

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a rather entertaining collection of letters between Copenhagen (Wellington's Horse) and Marengo (Napoleon's Horse) as they establish and develop a relationship often unspoken amongst horse-kind (that between English and French horses, obviously). I haven't heard the original radio version of these but still found them really funny and highly amusing (although I think some of the people on the train were getting a little concerned by my chuckling). The letters are brilliantly written and have very different styles for Copenhagen and Marengo which adds a lot to their believability and some of the footnotes are superb and occasionally funnier than the letters themselves. I also liked the additional notes that tell where the letters were found and the historical notes at the back and a lovely bit of context. Overall this is an entertaining read and one I would certainly recommend.

[Reni · Rating 4 out of 5]

The series is currently airing, and it sounded pretty cute, so I thought I'd check out the first series. And yes, it is very cute and absurdly funny once you get your head around the bizarre idea of horses writing love letters. My only complaint would be that it's so short.

I do wonder though how the producers convinced the BBC to air a radiodrama about an epistolary romance between homosexual horses.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

This started off as such a funny read. It has very witty humour and I really enjoyed the epistolary genre but it started dragging a little towards the end.
Quite enjoyable as a quick read!!

3.5 stars

[Camilla · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. Um. I'm not entirely sure how to describe this. These are the letters between two gay warhorses, one Wellington's, and one Napoleon's. It's absolutely hilarious, and I'd highly recommend it if you haven't given it a listen yet--the second season is out now, too. The voices are both perfect, and there's even humor in the narration at the beginning and end of each episode.

[Cristina · Rating 5 out of 5]

You don't expect a satire love story about warhorses to break your heart, but then op there you go and there are tears all over the place. One of the most random, funny reads expertly well done.

[Jo Brand · Rating 2 out of 5]

Probably better read (or listened to, Stephen Fry recorded the passages of Marengo) in small stints as it became repetitive and jokes got tiresome.

[M · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cutely done, charmingly transgressive, a little less actual history than I was hoping for.

[Glen Longwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious, I had to constantly go back and start over again because I couldn't stop laughing at the scene before.

[Tamsin Hartnell · Rating 5 out of 5]

The minute I finished reading this I went back to the first page and read it again.
Funny, sweet and sad. Honestly I cried.
But don't let my tears put you off...I'm a well know crier.

[Spring Horton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Warhorses of Letters is billed as the greatest epistolary romance and it really is...at least as far as gay horses go. The book is a lot of fun and I love that it's written as if it truly were factual with little tidbits and footnotes written in. I'm sorry, that should say hoofnotes.

If you've been lucky enough to see some of it performed live then it just adds to the fun. The authors are wonderful people and very helpful to fellow authors and just insanely funny! And on top of that, it manages to cover the social and political angles of being gay almost without you realizing it.

A wonderful read that I would recommend to everyone!

[Gabi Coatsworth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Silly but amusing. These are the love letters between Napoleon's horse, Marengo, and The Duke of Wellington's horse, Copenhagen. The horses are male, so if you're not into gay equine romance, don't read it. On the other hand, I didn't know I liked gay equine romance before I read this. The letters are cleverly done, with a little history thrown in, but the book is based on a BBC radio series and that may be why it has an unfinished air about it. Only 49 pages, so a quick read, but only available here in the US as an eBook or as an audio version from the radio programs.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A quick read but a great one. Having heard these originally on Radio 4 it is impossible to read without hearing Stephen Fry's dulcet tones as Marengo. The added hoofnotes (especially that about So Macho) were a bonus!

[Mohammed Al-bulushi · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick and funny read

[Ginny Handy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I only made it through 10 minutes. no idea what this author was thinking. it's literally 2 gay horses sending love letters. odd