Richard Proud coveted the golden-brown mare from the moment he saw her. Although he couldn't afford Zara, he bought her nevertheless, hoping she would breed him winners - foals that would restore the fortune of the Yorkshire stud where he bred and trained racehorses. Zara was born a winner: she had to be raced. Richard was determined that she should race so - despite personal crises, caused by his reckless wife, by a snowstorm that isolated the stud only a few days before Zara was due to run, and by an accident to her jockey - he had to find a way to let Zara prove her ability.
Psuedonym of Joyce Muriel Wilson (1921–2007). Lived in Anglesey, Wales. Trained as a biologist, specialising in animal behaviour, and tried her hand at dog training too. Not surprisingly, animal themes, especially relationships between human and animal feature in all of her books. She thought that the human-animal/human-nature relationship was extremely important and that a co-existence between the two could improve quality of life. She said "for many people an animal can provide a harmony lacking in day-to-day relationships with people." Her books are not very anthropomorphic, deliberately so. She thought that many animal books, especially childrens were inaccurate or sentimental or humanised the animal and wanted her stories instead to "show how animals live in a world that is real to them" They are definitely not sentimental either, many are quite downbeat. Disasters often strike her fictional worlds and her characters are often unhappy, guilt-stricken or remorseful. However they usually end on a more upbeat and optimistic note. Ms. Stranger was one of the few authors to write horse stories aimed at adults. Most of her pony books are either adult or teenage stories.
I enjoyed reading this book. It was supposed to go into our church school library, but it isn't really geared for that age group. Joyce Stranger gives colorful descriptions of the horses, a stud farm in the UK, and many interesting characters.
first of Joyce Strangers books that I read many years ago and since then I think I've read everything she's written Joyce has the ability to draw you into the animals lives and the people around them