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

Through the Eyes of Maria: Choices

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Description

Maria hits the streets of New York in search of the love denied by her alcoholic father and indifferent mother. When Sergio, a dark, worldly stranger, lures her with diamonds, brand-name clothing, and undivided attention, Maria sees a way out of her dysfunctional home. Seduced by Sergio’s charm and the promise of wealth and recognition, Maria ignores her panicked intuition and wanders into his lair. But in a world where ambition and deception go hand in hand, where dreams are shattered and innocence crushed, Maria discovers she’s trapped in a hell much worse than the one she left. And now, there is no escape. The price for betrayal is blood. Destiny intervenes when Maria meets Christian, a handsome law student haunted by a dark family secret. With her life at risk and time running out, will Maria find the strength to save herself and convince Christian to go against all reason and risk everything to help her?

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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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