A prescription for body and soul

H&H's hunting editor Catherine Austen discovers a novel about hunting that had passed her by, and is both gripped and inspired

- Catherine Austen

ONE of the things that I believe enthrones hunting above other sports and pastimes is the exceptional breadth and depth of its cultural heritage. For centuries it has inspired artists, novelists, poets and musicians who, like us, become enthralled by it and who grasp its strangely addictive and obsessive qualities.

I was thinking about this on the train back from London yesterday evening. The two excellent features written by Rory Knight Bruce about hunting fiction, which have run in the past two issues of H&H, have been very well-received, and have spurred several people on to suggest their own favourite hunting novel.

MY horse’s landlady has lent me a book I am embarrassed to admit that I had never heard of –