About the author
Katharine Harrison-Wallace was the god-daughter of the Duke of Atholl, who wrote a foreword to her book. Written and illustrated by her when she was 12 years old, it was reproduced in facsimile form. It is that very rare thing: a book written by a young author which I would seek out and read again. The author is a trenchant observer, so much so that she convinced Colonel CEG Hope, of Riding Magazine, that she was worth reading. Colonel Hope was not a fan of the book written by a very young author, but he liked Sambo and Susan. The book is made up of three short stories. Katharine Harrison-Wallace is a trenchant observer: Sambo and Susan are husband and wife, but Susan’s head is turned by a handsome white horse, with whom she goes off without a second glance. Poor Sambo is left bereft, and Katharine simply observes that: ‘Whenever Sambo passed a familiar place, the tears rolled down his cheeks.’
Finding the book
Very difficult to find in its original printing, it was re-issued by the Apple Tree Press.
Sources and links
Sambo and Susan, introduction
The Apple Tree Press, – run by Katharine Harrison-Wallace’s son, Colin Studd (link no longer working)
Bibliography
Sambo and Susan
Collins, London, 1938, 60 pp. Illus the author
Apple Tree Press, Northleach, 2012. Facsimile.
A collection of three short stories: Sambo and
Susan is the tale of two horses and the
white horse who turns Susan’s head. Jim the
Huntsman sees a local fox escaping and
living happily ever after, and The Story of a
Disobedient Salmon makes plain
what happens to those who will not listen.
