At last! All the Horses and Souls books in a box set and only for Advent 2024.
Trot along to Hazeley in the English countryside and immerse yourself in the ever complicated lives of Joanna, who lives in the manor. Mollie and Ann, who work in the stables. Chris who runs a nearby farm. Then last but not the least, new arrivals, Sally, and the terrible twins Jerry and Merry.
None of these stories would be complete without the horses. Challenger, the retired showjumper who reads everyone around him like a book. Keith, a totally dippy stallion. The mysterious roan, Chaos. Bella, the spotted horse, and Hindrance, her donkey sidekick. Rodi and Stella from snowy Austria. And of course, all the dogs who sneak their way into the tales.
As everyone seeks a happy ending, a web of tangled emotions, hidden pasts, and troublesome family relationships is interwoven with love, reconciliation, and healing, reflecting the Christian theme that runs through the series.
I know I’ve not been around for a while, life seems to have taken over and what with writing and actually doing live events and selling books, blogging had taken a back seat. I’ve plans to get back to it in the New Year, as I’ve another book to publish before Christmas and lots of author meeting people events which I love doing.
Here’s my latest offering. So many people have said that I should do a children’s version of Lamplight to Sunlight, especially as Pit ponies are on the National Curriculum in the UK, that I have. Here it is!
Swingle is going to be famous next month, but that’s top secret!
I vowed that I would take a break from writing until the new year, but a new book is coming to birth, but I am fighting starting to write it until after the summer and I’m not going to rush this one, it’s going to be deeper, a real mainstream, Christian novel, AND NO HORSES… well maybe a couple.Life here in Wales is fab. We’ve just had a wonderful, hot June, the garden is looking great, just wish my geraniums would flower, I’ll start them later next year. The pond is still leaking but Dave and I have talked ourselves out of the rebuild yet again. I’ve got Elderflower wine bubbling away, and it looks like there will be more blackberries than last year, but the Elderberries still don’t look so good. We’ve had visits from family which have been such fun and are making new friends around us.
Our lovely fellowship is changing and growing in all sorts of ways as God begins moving in Mountain Ash. I still have no idea what the future will hold and what it’ll look like, he’s keeping that under wraps. We had our first evening service last week and it was a deeply relaxed spiritual, joyous time, and I came home full of peace and eagerness for the path forward.
Yet, this week for the first time I actually wanted to go back to Austria. It was a conversation at the Riding for the Disabled group, where we were having a coffee chat. This wokeness is out of hand, and I was so upset when I heard of how teaching riding has changed since I left the UK, and how the horse world is under pressure from people ignorant of working with and loving horses. I wanted to run back to Austria where I could remain ignorant of this, bury my head. But that’s not God’s plan and here I stay and I’ll have to learn to deal with it.
I’ve never done one of these, again something to do with living in Austria and not having my books in German! I was a bundle of nerves all day, not helped by realising that the traffic in Ponty at the time we needed to be there was hectic, so I hopped on a train lugging the books in one of those suitcases on wheels. Dave followed in the car after the rush hour. Got there just at the right time, set up my books, and tried not to buy any more! Yes, I forgot to get Dave to take photos after he arrived. Jeff, who runs Storyville books was so calming and matter of fact, he really helped.
It was a bit nerve wracking, wondering who would turn up, but they did, even a couple I didn’t know. I talked about my writing background, asked for questions. Read two bits from the book, (trying not to edit them again in my head) and then we had a great discussion on pit ponies, mining and horses in general. The time flew.
Then I made far more sales than I expected, made some new friends, chatted more with some old, and I packed up, buzzing! It was just so good to actually talk to people about my books, and have them interested. I’ve now got a horse show, two book fairs and a book signing possibility. This is so much more fun than just looking at the sales on Amazon, this is what writing is about!
After some sweltering weeks here in Wales, the most exciting week is ahead of me. Today, Lamplight to Sunlight is released! It’s available as eBook, paperback and hardback. If you click on the link above, it will take you into the first few pages for a preview.
I’m also looking forward to the book launch at Storyville books in Pontypridd, Glamorgan, Wales on the 22nd. 18.30 to 20.00. If by chance any of you are in the area, you’re very welcome and I’d love to see you!
Here are some of the smashing 5 star reviews that have come in so far. If you read it, I’d love to hear what you think of it.
A beautiful book written about about the grit, grime, gloom and dangers of life down the mines from the ponies’ perspective. This book is a rich seam of valuable historical information about those lives and the lives of the miners facing the constant risk of injury and death as they went abut their work. That was until pit ponies careers in the mines ended in the late 1990’s, only a generation ago. Then they were brought to the surface forever from lamplight to sunlight, from pit to paddock to have second lives. It is not often an author’s words can make my eyes moisten. Anna managed it with a couple of these second life stories of the ponies and the people who gave them that chance to feel grass beneath their feet, sunshine on their backs and clean air to breath.
It is also a story that we can all take a lesson from. That is no matter how dark things get there will always be light.
An easy read that flows enthrallingly.
‘Written from the perspective of some of the pit ponies that left the mines to live new lives above ground, Lamplight to Sunlight is a wonderful account of ponies allowed to live their best lives after giving their all. Sensitively written, Anna incorporates her love of and experiences with horses with well researched facts to create some memorable characters. The retelling of her research is a meaningful preface to the stories that follow and provide us as readers with insight into some of the workings of the mines and the wonderful equines that made the life of the miners a little easier. An awesome read, that flows and draws you in from the first word. Often we are left wanting to know what happened next and this book tells you just that.’
In Plain Sight, being set in the UK has been struggling a bit in the US, then this wonderful fellow blogger, on Horseaddict.net wrote this!
Book Review: In Plain Sight by Anna Rashbrook
What ever has happened in the past is always subject to memories,interpretations. and reactions. A writer can take events and twist and change them to his own will. And this is what I am doing now using the past to create a new story that holds on to the turth as far as it can be recollected
Anna Rashbrook.
I think that one of the best accolades I can give to any book is to say that I looked forward to reading it every night when I would get into bed each night. I do most of my reading at night before going to sleep. In Plain Sight was one of those books. I looked forward to opening the book every night.
This book is the story of a young girl,Moira, who wants to make a life working with horses. But her Mother is intent on seeing her become a housewife married to a wealthy gentleman. But Moira is not easily swayed and she has her sights set on a racing stable near her home. She works there for a time mucking stalls and looking after the horses and she gets to know some of the jockeys. She also see one horse that they are preparing for the Grand National. Also she falls for one of the jockeys who is also smitten with her.
At the end of the war Moira has finished school and passed her final exams. She was not a big fan of school and so she is happy and relieved. She has a pony called Amber and she rides out with her through the countryside and often encounters the racing jockeys exercising and training the steeplechase horses.
About three-quarters of the way through this book there is an unexpected change of scene. But it is a happy one. So I read on eagerly.
I would recommend In Plain Sight. However Do Not Read The Epilogue until you have finished the book!! I am serious about this. I didn’t and so I followed along happily as the story unfolded. But the epilogue contains information that will spoil the main story so you have been warned!
So where's the snow? 