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The Milton St John Trilogy #1
Going the Distance
Chaotic, likeable Maddy Beckett lives in Milton St John, where horses, trainers and jockeys outnumber the rest of the inhabitants. Fully recovered from a disastrous love affair and running a successful small business, she is her own woman - until she meets deliciously tall, dark and wealthy Drew Fitzgerald. All is going swimmingly well until his cool and impossibly elegant wife appears on the scene. Maddy desperately wants drew - but does she want him enough to become the other woman in his life?
Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
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156 people want to read
About the author
Christina Jones
85 books192 followersI've written all my life, but only became a published novelist in 1997. Before that, I wrote short stories and newspaper articles for pin money while doing a series of naff jobs. In fact I've had twenty seven jobs and been sacked from nineteen of them for writing when I should have been working. I've been, among other things, a shop assistant, waitress, cleaner, secretary, factory worker, market-researcher, nanny, bookseller, night-club dancer, civil servant, blood donor attendant, fruit-picker and barmaid. I'm now, apparently, a Real Writer.
Writing for a living is wonderful - a dream come true - and I now manage to combine writing novels, short stories and articles with not doing the housework, not doing the gardening, not cooking much, but at least attempting to look after my husband - the Toyboy Trucker - and my daughter and our 17 rescued cats.
I was born in Oxford and have lived in Berkshire, Bedfordshire, Hampshire, Oxfordshire, Northumberland, London and Jersey. I blame my parents both for my itchy feet and my romantic soul. My Dad was a circus clown - Poor Billy, Prince of Laughter Makers - and my Mum who trained as a teacher, came from an army family, and had lived in six countries before she was 15. They met and fell in love while the circus was off the road and my Dad was working as Santa Claus in a department store. My Mum, at home for Christmas, was the fairy in his grotto. I was entranced by the way they met, that they were from such different backgrounds, and that their love for one another managed to survive every obstacle and objection thrown in its path. Every book I've written has their story at its core.
I grew up in a Berkshire village, in a tight, happy, secure and very working class community. My childhood was idyllically happy, and my friends from those days are still my best friends now. My novels reflect this community spirit, and all have small groups of people - crossing class, age and gender - who are friends and work together through the roller coaster ride of life. Also, because the women I grew up with were, by necessity, tough and go-getting with a sense of humour, my heroines are gutsy and strong. Real women in real situations. And the fact that the backgrounds to my books mirror my own past experiences is no coincidence, either.
My parents were great storytellers and avid readers, and taught me to read long before I started school, so I started writing my own stories at about five years old without thinking it in the least odd. Writing was an obsession, a friend, a way of life. I had my first short story published at 14, still blissfully unaware this was unusual. However, having a novel published was my life's ambition - and one that took another thirty writing years to achieve.
Having won a couple of awards for my short stories, I joined the Romantic Novelists' Association in 1993, and was lucky enough to be voted runner-up for the New Writers' Scheme Award at my second attempt in 1995. Dancing in the Moonlight was published by My Weekly Story Library, and as it didn't have an ISBN wasn't classed as a novel. I was, of course, ecstatic at this literary elevation - and it was at the RNA Awards Lunch that I was approached by an agent who suggested I should try writing full length commercial fiction. Going the Distance was the result, and amazingly it was sold to a publisher straight away and then, equally amazingly, chosen for the 1997 WH Smith Fresh Talent Promotion - and I haven't (touch wood and fingers and all other extremities crossed!) - looked back since.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Writing for a living is wonderful - a dream come true - and I now manage to combine writing novels, short stories and articles with not doing the housework, not doing the gardening, not cooking much, but at least attempting to look after my husband - the Toyboy Trucker - and my daughter and our 17 rescued cats.
I was born in Oxford and have lived in Berkshire, Bedfordshire, Hampshire, Oxfordshire, Northumberland, London and Jersey. I blame my parents both for my itchy feet and my romantic soul. My Dad was a circus clown - Poor Billy, Prince of Laughter Makers - and my Mum who trained as a teacher, came from an army family, and had lived in six countries before she was 15. They met and fell in love while the circus was off the road and my Dad was working as Santa Claus in a department store. My Mum, at home for Christmas, was the fairy in his grotto. I was entranced by the way they met, that they were from such different backgrounds, and that their love for one another managed to survive every obstacle and objection thrown in its path. Every book I've written has their story at its core.
I grew up in a Berkshire village, in a tight, happy, secure and very working class community. My childhood was idyllically happy, and my friends from those days are still my best friends now. My novels reflect this community spirit, and all have small groups of people - crossing class, age and gender - who are friends and work together through the roller coaster ride of life. Also, because the women I grew up with were, by necessity, tough and go-getting with a sense of humour, my heroines are gutsy and strong. Real women in real situations. And the fact that the backgrounds to my books mirror my own past experiences is no coincidence, either.
My parents were great storytellers and avid readers, and taught me to read long before I started school, so I started writing my own stories at about five years old without thinking it in the least odd. Writing was an obsession, a friend, a way of life. I had my first short story published at 14, still blissfully unaware this was unusual. However, having a novel published was my life's ambition - and one that took another thirty writing years to achieve.
Having won a couple of awards for my short stories, I joined the Romantic Novelists' Association in 1993, and was lucky enough to be voted runner-up for the New Writers' Scheme Award at my second attempt in 1995. Dancing in the Moonlight was published by My Weekly Story Library, and as it didn't have an ISBN wasn't classed as a novel. I was, of course, ecstatic at this literary elevation - and it was at the RNA Awards Lunch that I was approached by an agent who suggested I should try writing full length commercial fiction. Going the Distance was the result, and amazingly it was sold to a publisher straight away and then, equally amazingly, chosen for the 1997 WH Smith Fresh Talent Promotion - and I haven't (touch wood and fingers and all other extremities crossed!) - looked back since.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
February 20, 2019
I loved this as a teenager because of the pretty village, the horses and the Cat and Fiddle pub. I wanted to read it again as some easy escapism. Wow, it is not good. In fact, it's actually quite toxic.
The fury I feel on finishing this book is on a par with, for example, Henry the VIII being mocked on his hat choice by an ill-advised court jester, or Jay Rayner being served a £26 snotty egg dusted with gold leaf.
If I had my way, Maddie would have worked out that Charlie was much better than Drew in every way. Or Drew would have been less of a sulky, mardyarsed shagger and they would have gone to Jersey together and had a lovely holiday full of nice meals and seaside walks. I'd also like to cut out every single bit of fat-shaming nonsense, and ideally have someone amend the descriptions of cars so they don't sound like dangerous, out of control, rickety contraptions every time Maddy gets into one. Maddy is helpless and selfish. She didn't even realise her mate was in love and getting married because she was too busy describing her has fat and ridiculous. She didn't guess her other mate was pregnant even though she'd been openly trying for months just because she was moping over a married man. Ugh. I need a shower.
The fury I feel on finishing this book is on a par with, for example, Henry the VIII being mocked on his hat choice by an ill-advised court jester, or Jay Rayner being served a £26 snotty egg dusted with gold leaf.
If I had my way, Maddie would have worked out that Charlie was much better than Drew in every way. Or Drew would have been less of a sulky, mardyarsed shagger and they would have gone to Jersey together and had a lovely holiday full of nice meals and seaside walks. I'd also like to cut out every single bit of fat-shaming nonsense, and ideally have someone amend the descriptions of cars so they don't sound like dangerous, out of control, rickety contraptions every time Maddy gets into one. Maddy is helpless and selfish. She didn't even realise her mate was in love and getting married because she was too busy describing her has fat and ridiculous. She didn't guess her other mate was pregnant even though she'd been openly trying for months just because she was moping over a married man. Ugh. I need a shower.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 3, 2008
I love this book SO MUCH.
January 31, 2021
Loved this book! So fun and quirky and I laughed so much. Lovely happy read.
May 9, 2012
My all time favorite book. I have had to replace my oringal as I had worn it out. It is not the greatest book ever written. But there is something about it that I just love and re-read this 3 or 4 times a year over the last 15 years.
I love the charcters, espcially the main - Maddie and Drew.
It boarders on Mills and Boon and is; therefore, my guilty pleasure.
I love the charcters, espcially the main - Maddie and Drew.
It boarders on Mills and Boon and is; therefore, my guilty pleasure.
June 15, 2008
I was really disappointed with this book. So many of my friends praise this writer I was quite excited about reading this but it had an unheroic hero and a disagreeable heroine. The setting left me cold and I just couldn't get into it.
June 3, 2010
I adore this author, especially the early books about the racing community in Milton St. John, of which this is one.
October 5, 2010
This is my favourite book!
June 3, 2012
This was the first I read and remains my favourite. I'd love Maddy as a friend and I have a major literary crush on Drew.
My copy of this has been loved almost to disintegration.
My copy of this has been loved almost to disintegration.
March 20, 2015
Sweet romance and lovable characters .
December 6, 2015
I loved this. Not very realistic but cosy, nice and predictable.
January 10, 2023
One of my favourite books of all time. The kind of story you can read again and again. I totally fell for the characters, laughing and crying with them.
May 14, 2019
Predictable.
May 22, 2024
silly, amusing, rather charming.
September 23, 2009
quotes#732854 from my notebook
She turned the key. Nothing. She tried again. The engine didn't even whimper. There was a strange buzzing noise. Pushing her ear against the dashboard, Maddy cursed. Suzy had left the radio on all night. The battery was as flat as squashed hedgeghog. p46
Apart from that, you're a brilliant jockey. It's a bit tough though - Ricahrd can't ride because he's got ginger hair and freckles and a lived-in-face. p80 [noted this as I'm a redhead - how dare they??? lol:]
She turned the key. Nothing. She tried again. The engine didn't even whimper. There was a strange buzzing noise. Pushing her ear against the dashboard, Maddy cursed. Suzy had left the radio on all night. The battery was as flat as squashed hedgeghog. p46
Apart from that, you're a brilliant jockey. It's a bit tough though - Ricahrd can't ride because he's got ginger hair and freckles and a lived-in-face. p80 [noted this as I'm a redhead - how dare they??? lol:]
October 12, 2014
I didn't like this as much as I've liked the rest of Christina Jones' books. I was really looking forward to meeting the characters in Milton St John that I encountered as a side story in Heaven Sent, but of all the romantic plot devices, affairs and married men are my least favourite and the one I have the most trouble with getting past. But it was still good, I still liked the characters - and it was the least problematic of the affair-y plots that I've read I think.
November 28, 2014
There was something about Jones’ writing style that captured me instantly. It’s not a masterpiece, in fact quite simple writing and a simple, fairly predictable storyline, but she manages to inject such warmth into her heroine Maddy Beckett that you fall in love with her right from the start. Despite the fact that Maddy’s morals are far from perfect – having an affair with a married man – you accept her, flaws and all, and can’t help but love her.
April 10, 2013
An enjoyable read - a tame Jilly Cooper set in the world of horse racing. It's a love story and although predictable, in that you know the girls gonna get the boy, there are plenty of bumps along the way.
February 19, 2010
good easy reading but lacks a little grit!
July 23, 2011
I love Christina Jones so wasa delighted to find this in the charity shop in St Ives!! Another great holiday read - made me smile as usual.
April 18, 2014
wasn't as good at the start, taken ages to rest. Started to get into it halfway through. It was my first book of hers I have read.
July 4, 2016
Romantic, sometimes a bit silly, generally an ok book
July 11, 2011
This was a good, fun read. I love Jones wit and humour. Her descriptions are spot on.
April 9, 2019
Going the Distance by Christina Jones
Maddy Beckett lives in the horse-racing village of Milton St John. Recovered from a disastrous love-affair and running her own small business, she’s happy being single until she meets and falls for the gorgeous Drew Fitzgerald. Everything about Drew is perfect – until his cool and impossibly elegant wife appears on the scene. Maddy loves Drew, but doesn’t know if she loves him enough to become “the other woman”? Morally, it’s out of the question, but physically …?
Has their relationship got what it takes to go the distance …?
**"A lively romp through rural England." New Woman** **Book One in the Milton St John Trilogy.** Maddy Beckett lives in the horse-racing village of Milton St John. Recovered from a disastrous love-affair and running her own small business, she’s happy being single until she meets and falls for the gorgeous Drew Fitzgerald. Everything about Drew is perfect – until his cool and impossibly elegant wife appears on the scene. Maddy loves Drew, but doesn’t know if she loves him enough to become “the other woman”? Morally, it’s out of the question, but physically...? Has their relationship got what it takes to go the distance?
**
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews