About the author
Allan Jermieson is a rare thing: a South African author of horse stories. He won the Amstel Playwright of the year in 1989 for his play Disputed Barricades. I’ve not yet been able to turn up any substantial biographical information about him. I believe The Delmonico Two O Five is about a stablehand, but haven’t been able to find a copy to check.
Finding the book
Rebecca’s Horse is hard to find. The House with No Windows is considerably easier.
Sources and links
The Amstel Playwright of the Year
Many thanks to the anonymous person who sent me information on The House with No Windows.
Bibliography (horse books only)
Rebecca’s Horse
Tafelberg Publishers Ltd, Cape Town, 1988, 147 pp.
Set in South Africa during the Boer War: three girls ride their horses into the safety of the
mountains to hide them both from the British soldiers and the Boer stragglers. When one of
the horses is stolen, and the girls set off after him, they find themselves caught up in the war. They experience pain, hardship and terror, but come to realise there are two sides to every war.
The House with No Windows
Blackie, London, 1977, 102 pp
Set in Northumberland, but with fictitious place names. 13-year-old Donna is struck by a powerful feeling about the past. She sees visions from the past, and as she tries to come to terms with them, she is helped by the mysterious Peter, a painter (also Pertinax, the lost Roman commander) and a strange black horse called Erondore, who is a synthesis of a real horse, and one which
Peter rode in the past. The book looks at the destructive nature of progress, and how it might be made less
