Jill and the Steeplechaser (The Jill) by Spark, Jemma [Paperback]

This is one of seven books, which comprise the Jill series by Jemma Spark. They're a follow-on of the original Ruby Ferguson Jill books, which were the most popular pony books of their time and translated into many languages. Ostensibly, they are classified as Young Adult, and contain no explicit adult content. However, they fit more neatly into a developing genre with a devoted following called 'Pony Books for Adults'. They are set in the early 1960s and contain little nuggets of interesting historical context of the post-war years. There is also a strong element of horses and ponies, which appeal to the huge population of pony-lovers and horse-lovers. The series includes 'Jill Rides Cross-Country', 'Jill Has Two Horses', 'Jill Goes Pony Trekking', Jill and the Steeplechaser', 'Jill Dreams of a Dressage Horse', 'Jill and the Horsemasters' and 'All Change at Blainstock Stables'. They have consistently achieved 'best-seller' status in their genre on Amazon. A French translation, 'Les Aventures de Jill: Des Ponies aux Chevaux' will be published shortly. This is the fourth book in the Jill Series by Jemma Spark. Jill Crewe is a young woman living in rural England during the early 1960s. Teetering on the edge of adulthood, she moved to the Scottish Highlands to live in a castle when her mother married Richard Micheldever. Moving on from ponies to horses she is now the owner of Balius, a magnificent thoroughbred cross Highland gelding, and a sweet chestnut mare, Copperplate. In this book, she goes back to Chatton to live in her childhood home, Pool Cottage. Her best friend, Ann Derry, is emotionally wrecked from a love affair gone wrong and goes to stay with her. Their life of horsey adventures, and sometimes misadventures continue. Jill acquires a steeplechaser and enters a point-to-point to try race riding. In order to qualify to enter the race, Jill has to foxhunt, and after her first enthusiasm, she is forced to grapple with a moral dilemma when faced with anti-blood sports protests. A host of original characters parade through the pages including the Cholly-Sawcutt sisters, her old enemy Susan Pyke, Dinah Dean, Wendy Mead the instructor at Mrs Darcy's riding school, James and Diana Bush, and her cousin Cecilia.