Ten funny and bizarre stories of the everyday trials of a very tiny horse as he tries to make friends, goes to the supermarket and finds the internet is not all it's cracked up to be
"A charming fairytale adventure with an enduring ecological message." Peter Bunzl, author of Cogheart Wick has always lived in the dark and dreadful Harklights Match Factory and Orphanage, working tirelessly for greedy Old Ma Bogey. He only dreams of escaping, until one day a bird drops something impossible and magical at his feet - a tiny baby in an acorn cradle... As midnight chimes, Wick is visited by the Hobs, miniature protectors of the forest. Grateful for the kindness shown to their stolen child, they offer Wick the chance of a lifetime - escape from Harklights and begin a new life with them in the wild... Winner of the Joan Aiken Future Classics Prize, Harklights is a magical story celebrating family, friendship and the natural world, filled with a message of hope for our times.
One very small horse takes on the world of radio, has a go at reality TV and ponders the meaning of life. He falls in love for the first time with a lady fly who doesn't appreciate him, so he acquires a pet greenfly to love instead. He has fun being best man at Fly's wedding, and experiences the joys and horrors of babysitting Fly's new baby. And then he decides to rent out his matchbox stable to a mad ladybird and her chaotic host of ant friends.
Riding Home:The Power of Horses to Heal, Horse Nation's must read book of 2016, is the first and only book to scientifically and experientially explain why horses have the extraordinary ability to emotionally transform the lives of thousands of men, women and children, whether they are horse lovers, or suffering from deep psychological wounds. It is a book for anyone who wants to experience the joy, wonder, self-awareness and peace of mind that comes from creating a horse/human relationship, and it puts forth and clarifies the principles of today's Natural Horsemanship (or what was once referred to as "Horse Whispering") Everyone knows someone who needs help: a husband, a wife, a partner, a child, a friend, a troubled teenager, a war veteran with PTSD, someone with autism, an addiction, anyone in emotional pain or who has lost their way. Riding Home provides riveting examples of how Equine Therapy has become one of today's most effective cutting-edge methods of healing. Horses help us discover hidden parts of ourselves, whether we're seven or seventy. They model relationships that demonstrate acceptance, kindness, honesty, tolerance, patience, justice, compassion, and forgiveness. Horses cause all of us to become better people, better parents, better partners, and better friends. A horse can be our greatest teacher, for horses have no egos, they never lie, they're never wrong and they manifest unparalleled compassion. It is this amazing power of horses to heal and teach us about ourselves that is accessible to anyone and found in the pages of Tim Hayes's Riding Home. The information and lists of therapeutic and non-therapeutic equine programs, which are contained in the book, are also available at the book's website.
“A rollicking read about how magic and the mystifying thrive at the racetrack” from the New York Times–bestselling author (Joe Drape, author of The Saint Makers). In The Ghost Horse, Joe Layden tells the inspiring true tale of a one-eyed, club-footed thoroughbred racehorse and a journeyman trainer, Tim Snyder, who scraped together every penny he had to purchase the broken and unwanted filly. Snyder helped the horse overcome its deficiencies, eventually naming her in part after his deceased wife, Lisa, the great and only love of his life—a bright and sweet-tempered woman whose gentle demeanor seemed eerily reflected in the horse. The trainer (and now owner) was by nature a crusty and combative sort, the yin to his wife’s yang, a racetrack lifer not easily moved by new-age mysticism or sentiment. And yet in those final days back in 2003, when Lisa Snyder lay in bed, her body ravaged by cancer, she reassured her family with a weak smile. “It’s okay,” she’d say. “I’ll see you again. I’m coming back as a horse.” Tim Snyder did not then believe in reincarnation. But he acknowledged the strangeness of this journey, the series of coincidences that brought them together, and the undeniable similarities between the horse and his late wife. And so did those who knew the couple well, and who could now only marvel at the story of the filly, Lisa’s Booby Trap, and the down-on-his-luck trainer who apparently had been given a new lease on life. The Ghost Horse is a powerful horseracing story of underdogs and second chances. “A heart-warming tale, artfully told.” —William Nack, author of Secretariat
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy meets Black Beauty and gallops off into The Matrix in the debut novel from cult internet sensation Cyriak Harris Life was simple for Buttercup the horse. Chewing grass in a field, gazing dreamily at passing clouds or standing at a hedge to watch the world go by. Perhaps a light nap followed by a gentle canter and more grazing, and then off to the stable for a programme of psychological tests designed to expand the boundaries of horse consciousness. For Betty and Tim, life was also simple. Or at least as simple as life could be when you are scientists conducting neurological experiments on a horse. That is until the day they discovered their horse was conducting an experiment of its own. Life became rather more complicated after that for Tim, Betty and Buttercup, and the ensuing struggle for control over one horse's destiny results in an intellectual arms race that takes all three of them to the edge of reality and beyond. It is a struggle that threatens to shake the foundations of civilisation and unravel the fabric of time and space. Can anyone stop this horse from destroying the universe?
Tempting Tim is a heartfelt and deeply engrossing small-town, second-chance romance - guaranteed to bring music to your soul all the way to the happily-ever-after. I never wanted the limelight. The only thing I wanted was Conley Logan. When words failed to express my feelings for Conley, I relied on music instead. But our love song ended before it even began, before I’d even told her how I truly felt. As a result, I watched Conley leave hand-in-hand with my bandmate instead of me. Not wanting the fight that would break up the band, I made a choice. I lived with it every day, knowing it was nobody’s fault but my own. I’ve moved on. I’m content with my small-town life, running a bar. But now Conley is back, forcing me to face the music. From the way I’m still tempted to make her mine, it's as if nothing has changed—but until she tells me why she's back, I'm not sure I can trust what’s growing between us. The only thing that has changed: I’m not letting her get away this time without a fight. There are four stand-alone books in the Billingsley series: ♥Redeeming Lottie - Tucker & Lottie ♥Chasing Hannah - Billy & Hannah ♥Taming Wes - Wes & Devin ♥Tempting Tim - Tim & Conley
A newly discovered “exhilarating and moving memoir” of an RAF fighter pilot in World War II (Daily Mail). It is not often that a long-hidden gem of a manuscript is published, bringing a moment in WWII history to vivid life for today’s readers. Geoffrey Wellum’s First Light was one example. The memoir of Timothy Vigors is another. Born in Hatfield but raised in Ireland and educated at Eton and Cranwell, Vigors found himself in France in 1940 flying Fairey Battle bombers. After the Fall he joined the fighters of 222 Squadron, with whom he saw frantic and distinguished service over Dunkirk and persevered through the dangerous days of the Battle of Britain, when he became an ace. Vigors transferred to the Far East in January 1941 as a flight commander with 243, then to 453 Squadron RAAF, and on December 10 of that year he led a flight of Buffaloes to cover the sinking Prince of Wales and Repulse. Dramatically shot down, burnt and attacked on his parachute, he was evacuated to Java, and from there, to India. As he describes these experiences in his handwritten account, the author provides a fascinating and valuable record, a newly discovered personal narrative of air combat destined to be seen as a classic.