November 2009 Guest Editor Geraldine McCaughrean on a favourite book, The Silver Brumby:
"Any book with a horse on the cover was irresistible to me as a child. So I read countless pony books set in a toffy-nosed world I would never glimpse. Elyne Mitchell’s Brumby books, set in Australia were altogether more rugged, adventurous and well written. As blissful a find, to a horse-mad child, as Black Beauty, and you get more horses for your bucks (more bucks from your horses, too)."
"The Silver Brumby took me cantering into the world's wilder places." - Geraldine McCaughrean
A silver brumby is a rare and special creature, prized both by other horses and by men…
A silver brumby is special, but he will be hunted by man and horse alike, and must be stronger than both.
Thowra, the magnificent silver stallion, becomes king of the brumbies. But he must defend his herd from the mighty horse, The Brolga, in the most savage of struggles.
That is not the only danger. Thowra needs all his speed and cunning to save his herd from capture by man. In a desperate chase through the mountains, it seems there is no longer anywhere for him to run to…
Born in 1913, Elyne Mitchell began writing for her children. Although 'The Silver Brumby' books are her most famous, she wrote several others, mainly about horses. Passionate about the dramatic landscapes of the Australian Alps, her books convey the beauty and savagery of that area with a remarkable lyricism. Elyne Mitchell died in March 2002.
