Jonathan Hopkins

About

A Writer’s Tale

When my father died, one of the things he left me was a box of Bernard Cornwell’s ‘Sharpe’ novels. I’d watched the TV series, of course, but never read any of the books. And much to my surprise, not being a history buff, I enjoyed them.

But one thing grated. Sharpe was very critical of his British cavalry comrades; something that didn’t sit well with one who’s been involved with horses for much of his life. They could not have been that inept, could they? So I started to read more about horsemen in the Duke of Wellington’s day; contemporary and modern histories, diaries, newspaper and magazine articles, anything relevant I could find, in fact. And what I mostly found was the same old disparaging attitude.

In the meantime, fed up with typical wife-grumbles (‘you’re not romantic anymore/never buy me flowers/we don’t do anything different etc, etc.) I decided the most effective riposte would be to deliver flowers, on our anniversary, on horseback, dressed as a 19^th century hussar, followed by a carriage drive to lunch. This entailed making a full set of reproduction period horse-tack, a job I thought would not be too difficult for someone who works with leather. However, I soon discovered that patterns for equipment available in the early 1800’s were non-existent, forcing me to work from period illustrations and paintings. A useful knock-on effect of this turned out to be requests from historical re-enactors for other reproduction leather items – my latest project is a crupper (strap to stop the saddle sliding forward) to fit an 1805 pattern hussar saddle.

All the extra research I’d done to enable me to make a Napoleonic hussar’s equipment convinced me I was right: that historians’ attitudes to the cavalry of the time were grossly unfair. And because I’m no historian, but have always believed I can tell a good story, I thought I must write something to challenge the Duke of Wellington’s often-quoted (and later retracted) comment that his cavalry were an uncontrolled rabble who merely resorted to ‘galloping at everything.'

Unfair comment based on misinformation, and widely reported: that's the reason I started to write what became ‘Walls of Jericho.’

I must have been potty!!

Jonathan

Murdo

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Description

When Jessica Bryant pesters her wealthy parents to allow her to have a dog as a pet, the answer is a resounding "No"; but they soon come to regret their decision when thier home is broken into one evening whilst they are out and their daughter kidnapped and held for ransom. The kidnappers, in the form of four seedy and incompetent characters wearing Disneyland-type masks, take her hostage and keep her incarcerated in a place from which there appears to be no escape. However, they reckon without the resourcefulness of our heroine, and the courage of a wonderful stray dog who comes to her aid and whom she names 'Murdo'. And so begins an exciting and humurous accounting of the couples' adventures together as they consistently foil and outwit the abductors whilst on the run together. This is a lovely story of the friendship between a girl and a dog, bringing out themes of responsibility, camaraderie, redemption, salvation and self-sacrifice. It includes some wonderful dialogue sequences as Jessica teaches her new four-legged friend how to communicate with her, with additional delightful conversations between the animals when a rabbit and a sparrow join forces with them in an effort to outwit the kidnappers and restore Jessica safely back to her parents' home.

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Reviews

'An excellent tale of the Peninsular War told from the cavalryman’s point of view. If you like Bernard Cornwell’s tales of this period, then you’ll like this.' <a class="RE" href="http://booksfromboris.com/">Books from Boris</a> '...wish you loads of success with your book!' Bernard Cornwell (by email) 'Mr. Hopkins displays an evident love of his subject and a thorough knowledge of 19th century military methods, swordsmanship and horsemanship. His narrative is engaging and I found myself quite quickly turning pages as I became involved with the events surrounding the two main characters.' <a href="http://ihearditonthegrapevine.wordpress.com/2009/12/14/walls-of-jericho-by-jonathan-hopkins/">I Heard It On The Grapevine</a> 'I really enjoyed your book. It's the sort of thing that should be on TV.' Keith Jones

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