Meta Mayne Reid

Meta Mayne Reid (1905-1990) was born in Yorkshire, but lived for much of her life in Crawfordsburn, County Down.  She wrote over 20 children’s books, and set her historical novels in Ulster.  Her one pony book, The Noguls and the Horse, has a graphic and realistic background, drawn from The Troubles in Ireland: one of its main characters, Clare, is traumatised when she is caught in the blast from a car bomb.  Although pony books often reflect social conditions of the day, it is unusual for contemporary events to figure so dramatically.

Finding the book:  easy and cheap to find.

Sources and Links:

Dictionary of Ulster biography

The manuscript of The Noguls and the Horse is held by the University of Southern Mississippi, in the de Grummond collection

The Noguls and the Horse

Abelard Schuman, London, 1976, illus Tony Morris

Abelard Schuman, London, 1976, pb

Clare is given a kitten for her birthday, but when she is taking him in a basket to show the woman in the cake
shop, she is caught in the blast from a car bomb, and though she survives, the kitten is killed.  Clare retreats
into herself.  She is taken to stay in the country with her cousins Tom and Sara, who form the Noguls (the No
Grown Up Leaguers).  The try to save an old horse from the knacker’s yard, and the horse’s plight and their
adventures together help Clare to realise there is still something in life for her.

Bibliography - pony books only