The Connemara Champion


Book Description

‘The Connemara Champion’ is the third and final book in the series about wild young pony Cuaifeach. His owner Doreen is struggling to look after the spirited stallion – but she knows he has it in him to be a champion. Cuaifeach is taken to Dublin to see if he can behave himself as a performance pony, before being entered into the prestigious Ballinalee Show. Will Cuaifeach become the prize-winning champion Doreen knows he can be? There are plenty more mischievous adventures ahead in this delightful conclusion to the story, by Swedish author Ann Henning. Ann Henning Jocelyn was born in Sweden in 1948. Following the death of her father, Ann and her siblings were raised by their mother in remote and beautiful Ed on the Norwegian border. Ann thrived here - by the age of four she was reading, and by five she had written her very first story. The family moved closer to Gothenburg following her mother’s remarriage, where Ann struggled in the new environment and turned to her love of reading and writing for comfort. Ann wrote her very first book ‘Honeylove the Bearcub’ by the time she was seven, and by nine she had a story published in a magazine. Ann attended Gothenburg University to study Classical Architecture and Drama, before moving to London to study theatre and drama. In 1982, Ann moved to Connemara on the west coast of Ireland to focus on her writing, where she still lives today along with her husband. The area is well-known for its’ ponies, and the creatures became part of Ann’s daily life, influencing her writing. Bestseller ‘The Connemara Whirlwind’, about life in the pony world of Connemara, was followed by ‘The Connemara Stallion’ and ‘The Connemara Champion’. Also a keen playwright and theatre advocate, Ann co-founded the Connemara Theatre Company which has shown several of her plays including ‘Baptism of Fire’ and ‘The Alternative’.




The Hungry Place


Book Description

In this horse adventure perfect for fans of Black Beauty, a Connemara pony is pampered and beloved, then abused and neglected, until twelve-year-old Rae brings love to her again. Princess lives a charmed life of brown sugar cubes, crunchy apples, sweet grass, and adoration. But it is a lonely life; her elderly owner keeps Princess separate from other ponies so his show-ring champion will remain pristine. When Princess's owner has a stroke, she is thrust into the care of an unscrupulous trainer and his wife, who steal from the farm and leave. Abandoned to starve with other, tougher ponies, Princess is bereft of all hope. Meanwhile, a girl named Rae wants a pony more than anything and is striving to make her unrealistic dream a reality. Rae and Princess need each other, though neither realizes this when they eventually meet. Rae must learn to see beyond Princess's scars and Princess must learn to trust again in order for them both to find their own hidden strengths and a home in each other.




The Man Who Was Never Knocked Down


Book Description

Seán Mannion was once ranked the #1 US light middleweight boxer and in 1984 he fought Mike McCallum for the world title, only to fall just short of his dreams. Featuring exclusive interviews with Mannion, this book provides an inside perspective on his boxing career, 1980s Boston, and his present search for purpose outside the ring. In 1977, looking to fulfill a dream as a pro boxer, 17-year-old Seán Mannion flew into Boston from Ireland, straight into a world of gun smugglers, drug dealers, and the world’s best boxers. By 1983, Mannion was ranked the number one US light middleweight boxer. In The Man Who Was Never Knocked Down: The Life of Boxer Seán Mannion, Rónán Mac Con Iomaire recounts Mannion’s struggles and triumphs in and out of the ring. Despite dubious management and the attention of the Boston Irish Mafia, Mannion quickly climbed his way up from the lower rungs of one of the most competitive weight divisions in boxing history. This biography is more than a boxing story; it’s a personal story that also intersects with notorious crime figures, world-class fighters, and several pivotal moments in history. Featuring the likes of Micky Ward, Pat Nee, Marty Walsh, and Kevin Cullen, The Man Who Was Never Knocked Down is provides an inside perspective on the boxer, the fighting culture of his era, and on 1980s South Boston.




Gunner


Book Description

Each book in the True Horse Stories focuses on a contemporary horse from a different part of the world, and each animal is, in his or her own way, a hero. PBJ Decks Smokin Gun (Gunner) is an American Paint Horse, one of the many of Heather Lott Goodwin's herd, and a valuable show animal that won the World Championship Paint Horse title. When Hurricane Katrina passed over the Goodwin property, it took with it the fences, the cattle, and several horses. Heather and her family lived in their horse trailer for six weeks and considered themselves lucky to have safe, comfortable shelter. After the storm, they searched for the animals and recovered many of them. But three months passed before they located Gunner, a hundred miles away. They were told he was in terrible shape and should be put down. Nevertheless, Heather drove on washed-out roads to bring him home, starving, dehydrated, and blind in one eye. With the help of a vet and her mother, she nursed him back to health. Amazingly, nine months later, he was well enough to compete again in the World Championship Paint Horse Show. Gunner's story is a testament to love and to determination.




Connemara


Book Description

The first volume in Tim Robinson's phenomenal Connemara Trilogy - which Robert Macfarlane has called 'One of the most remarkable non-fiction projects undertaken in English'. In its landscape, history and folklore, Connemara is a singular region: ill-defined geographically, and yet unmistakably a place apart from the rest of Ireland. Tim Robinson, who established himself as Ireland's most brilliant living non-fiction writer with the two-volume Stones of Aran, moved from Aran to Connemara nearly twenty years ago. This book is the result of his extraordinary engagement with the mountains, bogs and shorelines of the region, and with its folklore and its often terrible history: a work as beautiful and surprising as the place it attempts to describe. Chosen as a book of the year by Iain Sinclair, Robert Macfarlane and Colm Tóibín 'One of the greatest writers of lands ... No one has disentangled the tales the stones of Ireland have to tell so deftly and retold them so beautifully' Fintan O'Toole 'Dazzling ... an indubitable classic' Giles Foden, Condé Nast Traveller 'He is that rarest of phenomena, a scientist and an artist, and his method is to combine scientific rigour with artistic reverie in a seamless blend that both informs and delights' John Banville 'One of contemporary Ireland's finest literary stylists' Joseph O'Connor, Guardian




The Hearts of Horses


Book Description

With an elegant sweetness and a pitch-perfect sense of western life reminiscent of Annie Dillard, Glosss breakout novel is a remarkable story about the connections between people and animals and how they touch one another in the most unexpected and profound ways.




A Horse of Her Own


Book Description

A girl who longs for her own horse is given the chance to care for a troubled, damaged horse, who needs her as much as she needs him. Fourteen-year-old Jane Ryan has always dreamed of having a horse of her own—but so long as she gets to ride her favorite school horse, Beau, at Sunny Acres farm, she's content. And this is the summer she means to try out for the advanced riding class. But just as camp begins, Jane receives heartbreaking news about Beau. She loses, not just her favorite horse, but also her chance to ride in the end-of-summer competition. When her trainer asks for her help with an out-of-control chestnut warmblood, Lancelot, a newcomer to the barn, she has no choice but to say yes. There's another new addition to the farm: Ben Reyes, the grandson of the barn's manager. As Jane struggles to go on without Beau, and to make Lancelot the great horse she believes him to be, her feelings for Ben, her relationships with the privileged group of girls she rides with, and her painful, joyous road to self-discovery all lead to a heart-pounding conclusion that is truly a new beginning. Only Jane's faith in Lancelot, and her own rediscovered skill and strength, can see her through the hard journey toward a horse of her own.




The Connemara Whirlwind


Book Description

Marty MacDonagh is the proud owner of a beautiful, champion Connemara mare named Veronica, who is due to give birth to her very first foal. Just as Veronica gives birth however, a wild whirlwind named the Cuaifeach envelops the stable – and the new foal seems to have inherited the personality of the wild weather which surrounded his birth. A whirlwind from the very start, the young foal gets into all sorts of humorous mischief and causes all kinds of trouble. Will the pony-mad young Doreen be the one to tame him? An instant bestseller upon release, ‘The Connemara Whirlwind’ is a charming tale for children by Swedish author Ann Henning. Ann Henning Jocelyn was born in Sweden in 1948. Following the death of her father, Ann and her siblings were raised by their mother in remote and beautiful Ed on the Norwegian border. Ann thrived here - by the age of four she was reading, and by five she had written her very first story. The family moved closer to Gothenburg following her mother’s remarriage, where Ann struggled in the new environment and turned to her love of reading and writing for comfort. Ann wrote her very first book ‘Honeylove the Bearcub’ by the time she was seven, and by nine she had a story published in a magazine. Ann attended Gothenburg University to study Classical Architecture and Drama, before moving to London to study theatre and drama. In 1982, Ann moved to Connemara on the west coast of Ireland to focus on her writing, where she still lives today along with her husband. The area is well-known for its’ ponies, and the creatures became part of Ann’s daily life, influencing her writing. Bestseller ‘The Connemara Whirlwind’, about life in the pony world of Connemara, was followed by ‘The Connemara Stallion’ and ‘The Connemara Champion’. Also a keen playwright and theatre advocate, Ann co-founded the Connemara Theatre Company which has shown several of her plays including ‘Baptism of Fire’ and ‘The Alternative’.




A Skull in Connemara


Book Description

Winner 1996 Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright; Winner 1996 George Devine Award for Most Promising Playwright For one week each autumn, Mick Dowd is hired to disinter the bones in certain sections of his local cemetery, to make way for new arrivals. As the time approaches for him to dig up those of his own late wife, strange rumours regarding his involvement in her sudden death seven years ago gradually begin to resurface.




Shadow Horse


Book Description

Thirteen-year-old foster kid Jasmine Schuler is immediately drawn to the scrawny, broken-looking brown gelding huddled in the corner of an auction house stall. Feeling a kinship with the lonely animal, Jas convinces her new foster mom, who rescues and rehabilitates abused horses on her Virginia farm, to buy him. Slowly, the horse Jas names Shadow begins to blossom and even to thrive. But when Jas uncovers a startling clue to Shadow's true identity, she becomes entangled in a mystery which could have serious consequences for the two of them. Both the heartwarming story of a young girl's love for her horse and an intriguing mystery, this inspiring middle-grade novel will appeal to horse lovers and mystery fans alike.