B L Kearley: Non fiction

Bernard Leslie Kearley wrote three books in the instruction masquerading as a story genre. They are , visually at least, really attractive books. Kearley’s books improved in quality as he went on. Let’s Go Riding is a fairly pedestrian read: perhaps it is more involving if you have no riding experience at all, but a more wide-ranging plot than two teenagers learning to ride might have helped it. It is of course a period piece, and it is interesting to see the changes in riding styles over the 70 years since the book was written. Once the author decided to let his characters and their stories comes to the fore, the still-present instruction was imparted in a much more easily digestible fashion. Let’s Meet Again is a completely different animal from Let’s Go Riding, and a good read. The author imparts his instruction much more easily, and the machinations of the characters and plot make it a good read.

B L Kearley had experience with many packs, from 'the hill counties of the North and West to the pasture, plough and woodland of the Midland and Home Counties ...' He also wrote under the pseudonym Field Sportsman, and according to the dustjacket of Let’s Meet Again, 'contributed much to the literature of the sport.' I assume he contributed to periodicals under that name, as I haven’t been able to find anything authored by The Field Sportsman.The illustrator of Let’s Meet Again, L G Illingworth, was also a hunting man.

Finding the books
All the books are easy to find, and not at all expensive.

Sources
Dustjackets of the books