Post by tintin on Jun 17, 2011 14:37:34 GMT 1
PLOT
The book concerns a brother and sister, Mark and Filipa, and their encounter with the famous pretty horsebreakers of Hyde Park.
They are, that familiar pattern of British aristocrats, asset rich and cash poor. Having lost their mother and father they are somewhat lacking in guidance. Filipa is a bit unworldly as having lost her mother before her coming of age she was not automatically presented at court. Lacking female relatives or money and influence she has no one else to present her either. This means she cannot enter society and must stay in the country. However, she is energetic, bright and good natured so she applies herself to gaining useful accomplishments, not least a high standard of horsemanship.
Mark on the other hand has joined the exclusive Gentleman’s Club, White’s. This club was notorious for its extravagant gambling (two members once bet £3,000 on which of two raindrops would reach the bottom of a window pane first). So many fortunes were squandered in this club that Swift described it as the “bane of the English nobility”. Filipa frequently has to sell family property and juggle finances to pay Mark’s debts.This is what precipitates the events of the story.
At his club Mark has fallen in with a fast set surrounding the sporting Marquis of Kline. All these gentlemen have amours among the horsebreakers. Kline decides to throw a weekend house party centred around horse races with a costumed pageant on the first day. There is a 1,000 guinea prize on the main race. Mark’s ladyfriend Lulu (I kid you not) is one of the most accomplished horsebreakers and they have had medieval outfits made for the pageant and are certain to be the stars of the event. Unfortunately Lulu is more than a little out of Mark’s league and is lured away by another gentleman with an extravagant diamond necklace. This leaves him in a real quandary as he cannot go on his own.
Mark seizes on his unfortunate sister who can ride and is roughly the same size as Lulu and inveigles her into pretending to be his girlfriend for the weekend. As the Marquis lives not far from them the intention is that she will hack home in the evening. Unfortunately circumstances prevent this and our gently bred, naieve heroine must stay the night. She does not really even understand a lot of what is going on and has made an enemy of Lulu by being the star of the pageant and beating her in a ladies race. She has quite a time of it and gets beaten up by one of the gents, but does discover and thwart his plot to dope Kline’s horse to manipulate the betting in the 1,000 guinea race.
The Marquis comes to her rescue and discovers her true identity, his horse wins the race and he proposes. Mark has won heavily on the betting. Seaforth, the horse doping woman beater, is made to resign from all his clubs and withdraw from society. The Marquis sends Mark on a horse purchasing mission to the Middle East (ensuring he won’t be able to squander his dough for a long while). And they all live happily ever after.
COMMENTS
The book has been translated into Spanish under its original title, into German as “The Beautiful Lady Riders” and into French as “Strange Amazons”. The latter is an odd cultural reference as when ladies first started to wear riding habits it was regarded by some people, particularly on the continent, as a bit masculine.
The book has terrific pace and the author obviously has a great knowledge and feel for the period. About twice as much is going on between the lines as in them. Filipa is not quite as appealing a heroine as Alita in “The Race for Love”. The author does pull off the trick of making it a compelling read in that, although you know all will come out right in the end, you have to keep reading as you want to know what happens.
Medieval pagaents were actually quite popular in this period and stimulated popular interest in chivalry and King Arthur etc
Another aspect in the book is it shows the beginnings of the flight away from colour in ladies riding habits which started as a reaction to the horsebreakers. I am out of touch with the showing scene, but even 20 years ago I remember a lady causing a whole afternoon’s worth of gossip by turning up in a grey habit (a “quiet” tweed was acceptable in the morning, black or navy in the afternoon). Prior to the horsebreakers you could have seen burgundy, jade, white or even red (though red was a bit ott even then).
The book concerns a brother and sister, Mark and Filipa, and their encounter with the famous pretty horsebreakers of Hyde Park.
They are, that familiar pattern of British aristocrats, asset rich and cash poor. Having lost their mother and father they are somewhat lacking in guidance. Filipa is a bit unworldly as having lost her mother before her coming of age she was not automatically presented at court. Lacking female relatives or money and influence she has no one else to present her either. This means she cannot enter society and must stay in the country. However, she is energetic, bright and good natured so she applies herself to gaining useful accomplishments, not least a high standard of horsemanship.
Mark on the other hand has joined the exclusive Gentleman’s Club, White’s. This club was notorious for its extravagant gambling (two members once bet £3,000 on which of two raindrops would reach the bottom of a window pane first). So many fortunes were squandered in this club that Swift described it as the “bane of the English nobility”. Filipa frequently has to sell family property and juggle finances to pay Mark’s debts.This is what precipitates the events of the story.
At his club Mark has fallen in with a fast set surrounding the sporting Marquis of Kline. All these gentlemen have amours among the horsebreakers. Kline decides to throw a weekend house party centred around horse races with a costumed pageant on the first day. There is a 1,000 guinea prize on the main race. Mark’s ladyfriend Lulu (I kid you not) is one of the most accomplished horsebreakers and they have had medieval outfits made for the pageant and are certain to be the stars of the event. Unfortunately Lulu is more than a little out of Mark’s league and is lured away by another gentleman with an extravagant diamond necklace. This leaves him in a real quandary as he cannot go on his own.
Mark seizes on his unfortunate sister who can ride and is roughly the same size as Lulu and inveigles her into pretending to be his girlfriend for the weekend. As the Marquis lives not far from them the intention is that she will hack home in the evening. Unfortunately circumstances prevent this and our gently bred, naieve heroine must stay the night. She does not really even understand a lot of what is going on and has made an enemy of Lulu by being the star of the pageant and beating her in a ladies race. She has quite a time of it and gets beaten up by one of the gents, but does discover and thwart his plot to dope Kline’s horse to manipulate the betting in the 1,000 guinea race.
The Marquis comes to her rescue and discovers her true identity, his horse wins the race and he proposes. Mark has won heavily on the betting. Seaforth, the horse doping woman beater, is made to resign from all his clubs and withdraw from society. The Marquis sends Mark on a horse purchasing mission to the Middle East (ensuring he won’t be able to squander his dough for a long while). And they all live happily ever after.
COMMENTS
The book has been translated into Spanish under its original title, into German as “The Beautiful Lady Riders” and into French as “Strange Amazons”. The latter is an odd cultural reference as when ladies first started to wear riding habits it was regarded by some people, particularly on the continent, as a bit masculine.
The book has terrific pace and the author obviously has a great knowledge and feel for the period. About twice as much is going on between the lines as in them. Filipa is not quite as appealing a heroine as Alita in “The Race for Love”. The author does pull off the trick of making it a compelling read in that, although you know all will come out right in the end, you have to keep reading as you want to know what happens.
Medieval pagaents were actually quite popular in this period and stimulated popular interest in chivalry and King Arthur etc
Another aspect in the book is it shows the beginnings of the flight away from colour in ladies riding habits which started as a reaction to the horsebreakers. I am out of touch with the showing scene, but even 20 years ago I remember a lady causing a whole afternoon’s worth of gossip by turning up in a grey habit (a “quiet” tweed was acceptable in the morning, black or navy in the afternoon). Prior to the horsebreakers you could have seen burgundy, jade, white or even red (though red was a bit ott even then).