About the author
Gwenda Williams was, according to the blurb on her collection of short stories, ‘well known in evangelical circles in New Zealand’. Her book, The Hand on the Rein (1950) contains 29 short stories, all of them ‘vibrant with the urgent necessity of leading the young into fellowship with the Saviour.’ Quoting wholesale from the blurb isn’t perhaps being fair to the author: she’s not imbued with quite the breathless enthusiasm the blurb writer is, though her sincere belief is evident. Two of the stories have some horse content: Straight Furrow is about ploughing, and The Hand on the Rein is half horse, half sermon. It’s fair to say the stories have dated somewhat.
Gwenda Williams lived in a house overlooking Auckland Bay, and had three sons.
Finding the book
Easy to find.
Links and sources
Foreword and jacket flap of The Hand on the Rein
Bibliography (pony books only)
The Hand on the Rein
Marshall, Morgan & Scott, London, 1950, 128 pp, illus W M Cuthill
Contains two short stories with a horsey element: The Hand on the Rein and Straight Furrow.
