About the author
Vernon Bowen (b.1905) wrote several children’s stories, amongst which is The Emperor’s White Horses, based on what really happened to the Spanish Riding School during World War II. He is an intriguing author. He also wrote an Encyclopaedia of Flying Saucers, which manuscript famously disappeared when submitted to the Air Force. Conspiracy theories abound.
Finding the book
Easy to find.
Links and sources
Harvey Bowen, the author’s grandson, for biographical information
Terri A. Wear: Horse Stories, an Annotated Bibliography, Scarecrow Press, 1987
Thanks to Lisa Catz for the photograph.
Bibliography (horse books only)
The Emperor’s White Horses
D McKay, New York, 1956, 147 pp, illus Hans Kreis
Set during World War II, this describes the fate of the Spanish Riding School in Vienna and its Lipizzaners. The boy Franz flees his home to find cousin Willi, who works at the Spanish Riding School, and discovers once he gets there the peril the horses are in from bombing raids.
