What's the Name of That Book??? discussion
► UNSOLVED: One specific book
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YA book about a tomboy who goes to Wales and poses as a boy on a horse farm. Read before 1996?, published late 1980s/early 1990s?
Thinking on the book some more, I'm pretty sure it hails from the late '80s or early '90s, but there's a slight chance it could go back as far as the '70s.Oh, and if it wasn't set in Wales, there's like a 1% chance it might have been set in Scotland. But I'm really pretty sure it's Wales.
I did a lot of deep diving and think I've managed to rule out everything on the Juvenile Fiction set in Wales list.
Anything by Christine Pullein-Thompson, maybe?(I'm guessing you trawled this list already: Horse/Pony Books For Middle Readers and Early Readers
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1... )
It didn't seem like part of a series. At least I didn't get that impression. I don't think it was so much a "horse book" as a book that happened to contain horses. But I could be wrong and the author might have been trying to appeal specifically to the horsey crowd.Don't think it was by Pullein-Thompson, although she did write another book I had searched for, A Home for Jessie. It's possible I got this book around the same time. Possibly brought to me from overseas, so it may not have ever been pubbed in the US.
Any of the Follyfoot series books by Monica Dickens?
bookel wrote: "Any of the Follyfoot series books by Monica Dickens?"Yeah, before your reply I was going to ask about Monica Dickens as well. Also Patricia Leitch. But these are "horsey" books. Hmm.
Anything about the cover?
Thanks so much, bookel, but I don't think it's Cobbler's Dream or any of the sequels. Looks way too old. Is there a tomboy who poses as a boy in any of the books?And Capn, thanks for the link! I went through the list but nothing looked terribly familiar. My mystery book had more of a YA feel rather than middle grade, at least to my teenage eyes.
Can't remember anything about the cover. Vague feeling it might have been paperback, but that's just a guess. Possibly white, but could be wrong on that too.
Author in Wales Hilda Boden. http://hildaboden.ponymadbooklovers.c...Haven't read the Follyfoot books yet, just randomly searching at the moment ...
Thanks! Ruled out Hilda Boden, her books are just way too old and nothing looked familiar. But I did find a new title to add to the Wales list, so that was good. Also ruled out Patricia Leitch. Nothing of hers seems familiar at all.
Obviously not a biography, but it was a good read ...Stranger than fiction by Joyce Stranger.
Any by K M Peyton? https://www.librarything.com/author/p...Not it either ... set in England. Pretends to be a boy. National Velvet / Bagnold.
After some searching I came across the search phrase "Welsh countryside", which gave more results.Search Google Books for horse farm 1990 aunt lexie ride
A Horse to Love by Nancy Springer
Erin dreams of owning a horse . Despite her shyness , she befriends a cranky old lady with a horse farm , Aunt Lexie , who teaches her to ride .
Hmm, this is getting me nowhere for now. At least you can eliminate some.
Thanks for your continued efforts!Vian Smith and K.M. Peyton don't look familiar, and it's not National Velvet. I'm 100% certain my book was not set in England. I am familiar with Riding Freedom, but it's way too recent and the wrong side of the world.
A Horse to Love is closer in terms of the time frame and sounds close when it comes to the plot, but it seems to be set in the US and it doesn't look like the MC was posing as a boy. But that's more the right vibe for sure.
I know you sort of ruled out horsey YA, but I just stumbled on this resource. Wanted to post it for the sake of other future searchers:https://janebadgerbooks.co.uk/
"About Jane Badger
I’m a freelance writer, editor and proof reader. I’ve written Heroines on Horseback (2019), a gallop through the pony book in children’s fiction, and have written the world’s largest website on equine literature.
I've now started up a publishing company dedicated to bringing classic pony fiction back into print."
It's a pretty impressive database... :S
I've used ponymadbooklovers and janebadger as Google search terms for years with horse books. Did a little searching with those earlier. It can be hit and miss but both websites are great.
Definitely can rule out Blyton. Too young and way too old.Thanks for the link to the Jane Badger site! I did some diving there. It lets you search by decade and keywords, but I still couldn't find anything that looked familiar. *sob*
Suuuuuper long shot. But it isn't on GR, so worth a shot, I suppose:https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thunder-Pool...
Roy or Ronald Brown as author, depending on source
The Thunder Pool
Book by Ronald Brown
"Cathy found life at the remote Welsh farm very different from London. Uncle Emry and Aunt Gwyneth were kind, but Cathy was puzzled by the hatred of her cousin Breck's eyes. Why did he wish she had not come to the valley?"--Jacket. Google Books
Originally published: 1971
Author: Ronald Brown
Genres: Fiction, Mystery
Illustrator: Gareth Floyd
Thanks, Capn!I created a GR record for The Thunder Pool. I don't think this is the right book, but I appreciate the suggestion!
Not Tamora Pierce's Alanna series? (The Song of the Lioness) Total longshot because I've never read it but the cover always intrigued me
No, definitely not, but thanks for the suggestion.My book was strictly based in the 20th century.
Is there a guy who teaches her how to fake a limp? Because I feel like I have memories of a book like that.
An older gentleman who is aware of her ruse for some reason.
Maybe? To be honest, I'm beginning to wonder if this book is some kind of conflation.I remember the posing as a boy. I remember the Welsh setting. And I remember the horse farm. But now I'm wondering if maybe the horse farm is from a different book altogether.
The book I'm remembering has an almost painterly cover with a figure in a red riding outfit a (brown?) horse from right to left.
It could be! I can't remember the cover of this one at all.The older man knowing that she wasn't a boy sounds familiar, though.
Rainbowheart wrote: "It could be! I can't remember the cover of this one at all.The older man knowing that she wasn't a boy sounds familiar, though."
The book I had was a library discard. I'm sure I don't have it anymore but it was hardcover "library binding," and the timeframe for publication sounds about right. I don't know if i read it all the way through. I just always remembered this older male mentor giving her advice on how to fake a limp, and not to make it look overly painful/exaggerated but more subtle, a limp of long standing.
Now that I think more about it, we could definitely be remembering the same book!I still don't recall the limp, but an older kindly man sounds very familiar.
Mention of Wales in a review but no idea if it.Horse of Air by Lucy Rees.
https://openlibrary.org/works/OL26913...
I just stumbled on this:Jockey School
https://openlibrary.org/works/OL39515...
Not super promising, but she is hired as a 'stable lad'.
Thanks, bookel! It's not Horse of Air, but that does seem close. Even the cover seems close to what I remember. Thanks, Capn! It's not Jockey School either, unfortunately, but I appreciate you keeping an eye out.
slauderdale wrote: "The book I'm remembering has an almost painterly cover with a figure in a red riding outfit a (brown?) horse from right to left."Slauderdale - like a red hunter's jacket?
...because then maybe 'fox hunting' is a useful search term....! And 'hunting lodge', 'field hunters', and a few other related terms.. Whippers-in / whips, kennelman, foxhounds, huntsman, kennel..
Sometimes browsing search engine results can give clues.Wales horse farm janebadger
Wales ponymadbooklovers
However some results already ruled out.
Author Mary Gervaise?
Any under Welsh https://janebadgerbooks.co.uk/breeds/...
Thanks, bookel!Nothing there looks familiar. I think my book was not really a "horse book" per se. It just happened to partially take place on a horse farm. At this point, I'm wondering whether I dreamed it, lol.
Capn wrote: "slauderdale wrote: "The book I'm remembering has an almost painterly cover with a figure in a red riding outfit a (brown?) horse from right to left."Slauderdale - like a red hunter's jacket?
...."
Whoops. I never responded to this, but yes, just like, riding on a brown (?) horse from right to left across the cover. Very painterly.
We didn't try The Horseman's Word yet, did we?
(Scotland, though - but interestingly is on the "Girls Disguised as Boys" list)
https://openlibrary.org/works/OL40995...
What's the Name of That Book???
Books mentioned in this topic
The Piper in Scarlet (other topics)October Moon (other topics)
Perdita (other topics)
The Sound of Distant Cheering (other topics)
The Horseman's Word (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Enid Blyton (other topics)Vian Smith (other topics)
K.M. Peyton (other topics)
Hilda Boden (other topics)
Monica Dickens (other topics)
More...
I'm dying here. I've spent the last hour searching for a book I know I read in my early teens. This would have been no later than about 1995, and I believe the book was written in the late '80s or early '90s.
A young tomboy poses as a boy on a horse farm in Wales. I'm 99% certain it was set in Wales. She could have been a runaway. Or maybe she was a native of Wales, and other kids visited the farm and met her. She may have had a romance with a local boy or a visiting boy. Horses were definitely important to the story. Horse racing or horse riding or taking care of horses.
I think the girl was a teenager, at least 14. I'm almost positive this would have been categorized as YA rather than middle grade fiction. Bear with me, I know this sounds an awful lot like My Mother's Daughter, but I'm convinced it's a different book. I could have some of the details wrong, but I know I read a British (or UK-based) book matching this description in junior high or high school.
Thanks mucho for any help!