BY day Jenny Loweth is the court reporter at the Telegraph & Argus. She’s also a prolific author, and has released the sixth book in her series of horse-themed adventures.
Jenny brings to her books both her love of horses and her knowledge of crime, from covering cases at Bradford Crown Court for two decades. In Dreams & Desires, her latest in the Sheldon & Splash series, there’s a shocking burglary, a sinister prowler and a terrifying kidnap, woven into a tempestuous love story set in rural Oxfordshire and Yorkshire’s east coast.
It follows fifth book The Secret of Red Horse Cove, a story of smugglers and family treasure, which introduced charismatic loner Zak. In Dreams & Desires, brooding Zak takes centre stage as he and show jumper Melissa embark on an awkward but passionate relationship.
Jenny draws on her experience of horse shows. A Halloween-themed show jumping contest in Dreams & Desires is an intriguing glimpse of a world that some readers, like me, will be unfamiliar with.
Her adventure series began with Broken Flight, in which abused Bradford teenager Sheldon Ellwood finds a neglected horse tethered in the city. The pair escape to Sheldon’s uncle’s home and their adventures have continued with a growing ‘cast list’ of endearing characters. A Bradford strand runs through the books, with Sheldon occasionally returning to his home city. In Faster than Witches, he walks the streets searching for his stolen horse, passing landmarks such as the grand Midland Hotel, where he recalls his grandad telling him that “fleets of Rolls-Royces used to be lined up outside”.
Broken Flight was written in 2019 and in the books that followed, young Sheldon has faced gun runners and drug dealers, and a quest with girlfriend Alice to the Devil’s Arrows, three ancient standing stones at Boroughbridge, to find a mysterious horse.
I really enjoy Jenny’s books - they’re perfect to curl up with on a rainy afternoon. There’s an old-school charm to the characters, especially formidable matriarch aunts Beatrice and Celia, with some gritty crime and a striking supernatural element, when a mysterious black cat appears as a kind of bad-tempered guardian angel. In getting to know the characters, it probably helps to read the books from Broken Flight. Having only read the last two, I plan to order the earlier books and settle down for more adventures.
The book covers are illustrated by animal portrait artist Danielle Allen from Draughton, near Bolton Abbey. The cover of Dreams & Desires is a departure from the others, which feature horses. “We went for an almost Art Deco poster look. It’s very striking,” says Jenny, who lives in Silsden and self-publishes her books. “Writing is my escape from disturbing things I have to listen to at work. In my books, the well-ordered country lifestyle at Priory Park and Roseberry Manor is threatened by villains, including thieves, gun-runners and kidnappers. But my readers can be assured that the baddies get their comeuppance and the main characters end up drinking Champagne in front of a roaring log fire!”
Jenny is currently writing a ‘Christmas special’, The Magic Lantern, featuring the same characters, “but with a touch more magic and mystery”. She adds: “My books are in many ways old-fashioned adventure stories but woven with my firsthand knowledge of crime. They’re meant to be cosy escapism. They certainly are for me. The latest one includes everything that makes a traditional Christmas - log fires, sugar mice, yule logs and of course lots of snow.”
Dreams & Desires is available from Amazon and Kindle.
* THE coastline, cities and countryside of Yorkshire has had a significant influence on food here. In More Than Yorkshire Puddings, renowned food writer Elaine Lemm goes on a culinary journey through her home county and beyond. The book has just been awarded Winner of the Best Regional Cookbook in the UK, Gourman World Cookbook Awards, 2023.
With more than 100 recipes, stories and stunning photography, it’s a fresh take on Yorkshire’s multicultural cuisine. Recipes include Braised Pork Shoulder with Rhubarb; Brioche and Cranberry Bread and Butter Pudding; Cantonese Ginger Fish; Cauliflower Chowder; Ham Pot Pie; Lavender Cup Cakes; Spicy Goat Stew and Zingy Tuscan Lemon Tart.
Former chef and cookery school owner Elaine developed recipes for the New York Times Company, later Spruce Eats, one of the world’s leading food sites. More than Yorkshire Puddings, Great Northern Books, £19.99.
* WITHOUT women, the Industrial Revolution wouldn’t have been nearly as industrial or revolutionary. In Factory Girls: The Working Lives of Women and Children, Paul Chrystal examines the unhappy but aspirational story of women and children at work through the Industrial Revolution to 1914. He reveals the long hours, dangerous jobs, toxic conditions, bullying and miserly pay that were all in a day’s work for women, before heading home to their other job of keeping house and family. Children too worked in factories, coal mines and up chimneys, half-starved so they could shin up narrow flues.
The book looks at social reformers, model villages such as Saltaire, feminism, activism, Factory Acts and trade unionism, and examines how women and children suffered chronic occupational diseases and disabling industrial injuries, often a one-way ticket to the workhouse. The first of a two-volume series - Volume 2 (2023) covers women’s work in the world wars - it concludes with a survey of the factory girl in literature, art and music.
Paul Chrystal has had over 120 books published. He’s part of the research team for BBC1’s Who Do You Think You Are? and in 2019 took over the history editorship of Yorkshire Archaeological Journal.
* SET in rural Dales communities, before modern machinery changed farming, James Herriot’s stories of veterinary work are beloved worldwide. His children, Rosie Page and Jim Wight, recently signed copies of new book The Wonderful World of James Herriot (worldofjamesherriot.com) at the house and surgery where their father lived and worked. Fans turned out at the World of James Herriot in Thirsk, North Yorkshire, to meet the siblings.
The book is a collection of charming stories, with insights from Rosie and Jim. “There’s never a dull moment in Herriot’s stories - becoming pen pals with spoilt Pekingese Tricki Woo, dodging a raging bull on a risky artificial insemination assignment, the trials of lambing season, Rosie and Jim have seen it all,” says Ian Ashton, MD of the World of James Herriot.
Channel 5 drama All Creatures Great and Small, based on Herriot’s stories, returns for a Christmas special.
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