Exiles from the Moor

Jess is an eleven-year-old girl whose passion in life is horses, in particular her Exmoor pony, Marmalade. The death of her father has forced her mother, Pam, to leave their moorland home and take a job in rural Surrey, a restricting environment for a free spirit like Jess. Her only consolation is that she is allowed to take Marmalade with her.

At her first Pony Club Rally, Jessʼs pony is ridiculed by smartly mounted children. She resolves to have nothing more to do with them and to devote herself to restoring the health of an elderly mare, owned by her motherʼs employer. However, Jess is influenced by her new friends and, together, the children are swept along by a series of exciting, even dangerous events, culminating in Jess and Marmalade becoming not only heroines of the Pony Club but with horse lovers far and wide. *** Pauline Morphy describes herself in childhood as, "Belonging to the Thelwellian branch of the Pony Club." At the age of ten she parted company with a wildly bucking Dartmoor mare; she sustained severe concussion and a chronic obsession with native ponies of which she has owned four. In 1990 she became one of the founder members of Stour Valley Riding Club. She is a passionate supporter of animal welfare and royalties earned by this novel will be paid straight to World Horse Welfare.