Our Horses in Egypt

A historical novel about horses in the First World War (in Egypt and Palestine) this is an astonishing literary tour-de-force.

A remarkable work of literature... If literary prizes were awarded (as they still, occasionally, are), on pure excellence of writing, Our Horses in Egypt would be sure to make Rosalind Belben a late-blooming household name

Magnificent... funny and sad, by turns elegant and terse, romantic and brisk - evocative and entirely beguiling, a wonderful novel

A most unusual, fascinating novel...gripping transcontinental adventure

Splicing tales of Griselda's mission with Philomena's wartime trials, Belben's narrative ambles along at a pace suited to the war-battered world in which it unfolds. From this sentimental premise, she carves an epic tale devoid of syrup that cuts to the heart of our relationship with other cultures and other creatures

The novel offers a heart-rending account of the horses' experience in the Great War... Our Horses in Egypt, a radical experiment in narrative, has a sympathetic splendour, leading the blinkered humanist imagination into the realm of creaturely experience

Belben does not shy away from difficult themes...In this powerful novel, Belben celebrates the gift of not forgetting with the confidence and style of a writer who deserves to be a great deal better known

Here is a First World War story and a love story with a difference... Rosalind Belben is as unsentimental as she is skilful. Griselda's quest is perfectly paced, and the author's default tone is restraint mixed with irony. As a result she has conjured up a novel of unexpected potency

Rosalind Belben's work has been consistently admired. Her previous novels include Hound Music, Choosing Spectacles, Is Beauty Good and Dreaming of Dead People. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Philomena is requisitioned from a Dorset field in the summer of 1914, and serves with the yeomanry in Egypt and Palestine until the end of the First World War. But she doesn't come back to England: thousands of British Army horses are sold off locally. Faint news of her reaches Griselda Romney, her old owner. The impulsive Griselda, taking with her little Amabel and, of course, Nanny, sails for Egypt - to find Philomena and bring her home.

Rosalind Belben

A subtle, brilliant and paradoxical novel. She writes beautifully about nature. No one has ever written better than she does here about the English upper-class cult of fox-hunting pre-1914... Hound Music is an enthralling and non-judgemental evocation of a vanished world

A beautiful, resonant book about a hidden world, part of which is gone forever... She is an extraordinary writer... The charm of this strange, haunting novel lies in her extraordinary ability not merely to describe, but to convey the very texture of whatever she is writing about

She has written some of the most memorable prose in contemporary fiction. Richly evocative of the countryside, plangent and mischevious, Hound Music is a story of fox-hunting as it was in the years 1900- 1902

To George Lupus, Master of the Quarr Hounds, the fox is a 'gentleman'. The four children all hunt, and are tremendously keen. But Dorothy Lupus dislikes the sport that has been her beloved husband's passion. When a tragedy occurs, Dorothy finds she can't bear the proximity of the kennels across the park. Roguish, Rakish, Harebell, Arcady and Argot, Striver, Decorous, Fearless, Snowmaid... Dorothy wishes never to hear their hullabaloo again. She is adamant...

Rosalind Belben

Praise for Hound Music

A subtle, brilliant and paradoxical novel. She writes beautifully about nature. No one has ever written better than she does here about the English upper-class cult of fox-hunting pre-1914... Hound Music is a ...

A beautiful, resonant book about a hidden world, part of which is gone forever... She is an extraordinary writer... The charm of this strange, haunting novel lies in her extraordinary ability not merely to describe, ...

She has written some of the most memorable prose in contemporary fiction. Richly evocative of the countryside, plangent and mischevious, Hound Music is a story of fox-hunting as it was in the years 1900- 1902

A subtle, brilliant and paradoxical novel. She writes beautifully about nature. No one has ever written better than she does here about the English upper-class cult of fox-hunting pre-1914... Hound Music is a ...

A beautiful, resonant book about a hidden world, part of which is gone forever... She is an extraordinary writer... The charm of this strange, haunting novel lies in her extraordinary ability not merely to describe, ...

She has written some of the most memorable prose in contemporary fiction. Richly evocative of the countryside, plangent and mischevious, Hound Music is a story of fox-hunting as it was in the years 1900- 1902

A subtle, brilliant and paradoxical novel. She writes beautifully about nature. No one has ever written better than she does here about the English upper-class cult of fox-hunting pre-1914... Hound Music is a ...

A beautiful, resonant book about a hidden world, part of which is gone forever... She is an extraordinary writer... The charm of this strange, haunting novel lies in her extraordinary ability not merely to describe, ...

She has written some of the most memorable prose in contemporary fiction. Richly evocative of the countryside, plangent and mischevious, Hound Music is a story of fox-hunting as it was in the years 1900- 1902

Books by Rosalind Belben

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