The Enchanted

Charlotte Bingham

Bantam Press 11 February 2008 HB ? £16.99

One enchanted life can touch so many others...

When Kathleen Flanagan and her father Padraig discover a heavily pregnant mare on a windswept beach in southern Ireland, they take her home to bear her foal, though they can only barely afford to do so. Following the mare’s tragic death, the foal, named The Enchanted, stays with them.

Kathleen forms a deep and powerful bond with the youngster, although she realises that her family’s poverty will eventually force them to sell him. When that day arrives and strangers from across the water come looking for horses, Kathleen must say goodbye to a horse that her heart considers its own.

But it would seem that the Fates have planned a very special path for this horse…

Over in England, a group of four strangers are drawn into a racing partnership with The Enchanted: Alice, recently widowed, is encouraged by her friend Millie to buy a share in the horse, as indeed are the newly-divorced Lynne, the lonely financier Grenville and the apparently eccentric Lady Constance Frimley. All at once, these four very different individuals find themselves connected not only to the fate of the little horse, but also to one another ? aand to the fortunes of the young trainer Rory James ? and the animal comes to be the centre of their previously disparate lives.

When The Enchanted mysteriously sickens, Kathleen’s Celtic second sight brings her swiftly across to England to tend for him and, under the influence of her love and care, he suddenly starts to fulfil his promise and live up to his magical name. And as The Enchanted begins to win his races in astonishing fashion, those who own him find themselves falling under another spell as they each find love and happiness ? and their lives are magically transformed forever.

 

CHARLOTTE BINGHAM

Award winning novelist Charlotte Bingham hails from a well-known literary family ? herr father John Bingham, 7th Baron Clanmorris, wrote detectives stories, and sold a story to H. G. Wells when he was only seventeen. Charlotte was born in Sussex in 1942 and famously published her autobiography, Coronet Among the Weeds, at the age of nineteen. Since then she has written comedy and drama series, films and stage plays for both England and America, with her husband, the actor and playwright Terence Brady. In total, she has written over 30 novels, her most recent being the highly acclaimed Goodnight Sweetheart, Daughters of Eden, In Distant Fields and The White Marriage.

Charlotte now lives and works in rural Somerset, where she indulges in two of her life-long passions ? gardening and breeeding horses. In fact her interest in horses, has begun to creep into her work ? The Enchanted tells the compelling tale of a small racehorse from western Ireland and how he brings change to the lives of those who own him.

Charlotte’s own serious involvement with horses began when Terence and she moved to the country and started breeding thoroughbreds. Within a couple of years they found themselves owning a racehorse that went on to win them twelve races, his first victory coming in his first race at their local track, Wincanton racecourse, that features so prominently in the book. The last race won by Fredwel, this particularly well known and popular chaser, was the BBC Solent Hunter Chase at Fontwell, when he was being trained by Terence from their home in Somerset ? a famous race tthat founded Charlotte’s belief that her husband might be the only professional actor and writer ever to have trained a winning racehorse under Rules.

Besides the mighty Fredwel, Charlotte and Terence have owned several other racehorses, most notably Hear A Nightingale, a dual winner on the Flat, who then went on to become a highly successful eventer, winning the National Novice championship at Chepstow. Charlotte and Terence have also bred many winning competitive horses, including The Orange Hooli, who became a winning 2** event horse, as well as several successful point to pointers.

The Enchanted draws very much on Charlotte’s love of and direct involvement with thoroughbreds, as well as on her passion for National Hunt racing and the proper aftercare of racehorses. Both Charlotte and Terence have been made life members of the International League for the Protection of Horses.