Alice B. reviewed on + 3558 more book reviews
This is a beautiful copy for it's age.
Dick Francis has a formula that almost all of his books follow, but the details that Francis provides makes it work every time.
In this case, our hero is a jockey. Now, many people may be like me- they never got around to reading Dick Francis because they thought all the books are just about jockeys and horse racing. Well, as it turns out, most of the books written in the past 25 years DON'T have jockeys as their primary characters. So I wound up reading some of those, and then just had to read more Francis. And I came to this one, in which the hero IS a jockey - and I liked it anyway!
Our hero is a jockey and amateur photographer who has led a rather rootless life. Left by his mother with a series of friends all through his childhood, he has no close attachments, and in the course of the book must finally learn to acknowledge emotions and grow close to people. The middle-aged woman in this one is one of the women who took care of him when he was young; he spends part of the book trying to find places from his childhood. There's also the stock character of the cunning, wily, whim-of-iron old lady, who thinks the world is motivated solely by greed, and a few other stock types.
There are also some unusual bits- although this book was written in the 80's;Francis has included in our hero's checkered childhood a loving couple who give him the most stable part of his upbringing. Our hero is himself quite a straight guy, and falls in love with the middle-aged woman's daughter.
The details about photography are fascinating.It just makes the book more interesting.
Dick Francis has a formula that almost all of his books follow, but the details that Francis provides makes it work every time.
In this case, our hero is a jockey. Now, many people may be like me- they never got around to reading Dick Francis because they thought all the books are just about jockeys and horse racing. Well, as it turns out, most of the books written in the past 25 years DON'T have jockeys as their primary characters. So I wound up reading some of those, and then just had to read more Francis. And I came to this one, in which the hero IS a jockey - and I liked it anyway!
Our hero is a jockey and amateur photographer who has led a rather rootless life. Left by his mother with a series of friends all through his childhood, he has no close attachments, and in the course of the book must finally learn to acknowledge emotions and grow close to people. The middle-aged woman in this one is one of the women who took care of him when he was young; he spends part of the book trying to find places from his childhood. There's also the stock character of the cunning, wily, whim-of-iron old lady, who thinks the world is motivated solely by greed, and a few other stock types.
There are also some unusual bits- although this book was written in the 80's;Francis has included in our hero's checkered childhood a loving couple who give him the most stable part of his upbringing. Our hero is himself quite a straight guy, and falls in love with the middle-aged woman's daughter.
The details about photography are fascinating.It just makes the book more interesting.
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