Fiona Walker

Well Groomed

Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1996,

Coronet, London, 1997, pb, 698 pp.

Read a review here.

A Jilly Cooper-esque romance set in the eventing world.  Tash is going to marry Niall, her actor fiance.  This is fine,
because she is not still in love with eventing legend Hugo.  Niall isn’t in love with anyone else either.  Of course not.
Everything’s going to work out just fine.

Fiona Walker (1969-) narrowly escaped being called Mopsa, after a shepherdess in Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale.  An early rider and Pony Club attendee, she said: “From the moment I spotted a fat Thelwell pony through a gateway and screamed ‘yes please, please, please!’ I lived to ride. Throughout early childhood, I thought true love was four-legged.”  She moved on from Jill to Jilly Cooper, read Theatre Studies at University, started working in advertising, and then began to write. With eight novels now behind her, she lives with her partner Sam, a dressage coach, in Somerset and together they run  Dovecote Stables.

As far as I know, only one of her books is set in the horse world:  Well Groomed.  It’s an eventing story, and is a fun read, though the characters vacillate maybe a hundred or so pages too long for comfort.  It might very well be that more of her stories should be included here.  Let me know!

Finding the book:  easy.  It’s still in print.

Sources and links:

Fiona Walker’s website:  

Bibliography - horse books only