Informationen zum Autor Anne McCaffrey Klappentext Amidst the grandeur of the emerald countryside! a magnificent story unfolds. . . . They are the Carradynes! who for more than 200 years have bred and trained horses of the finest caliber on Cornanagh-a land so beautiful it inspires the soul. But all is not idyllic at hearth and home. At the center of the conflict is Catriona! the youngest child! a girl who dreams of riding her family's big jumpers and show horses. Her father! Michael! is keenly aware of her immense talent! and he urges her on-only to lock wills with his insufferably pious and overbearing wife! Isabel! a woman who cannot bear horses! who cannot bear his touch. Her goal is to put stiff dresses! tight shoes! and perfect manners on Catriona. It is a stalemate of pride and passion-until the day Lady Selina Healy enters their lives. Poised! beautiful! and warm! she too knows imprisonment in a loveless marriage! she too admires good horses! she too finds enchantment in Cornanagh. She falls in love . . . with Catriona! who becomes the child she never had; with the splendid lush land; and with Michael! the consummate horseman and gentleman. February 1970 FOLLOW the coast road to Greystones, turn right at Blacklion, and watch out for the traffic haring up from the townsome of the drivers buy their licenses at the post office. Stay on that upper road past the Orchard Pub and continue straight through the crossroads at Killincarrig. The right-hand road leads to Delgany, and the left turns back down to the sea. At Pretty Bush turn right and up the hill mind the children who play in the roadand continue on past Kilquade's cemetery. There's a grand view from there of the sea and the convent and the mountains, not yet greening with spring but with twisted pines marching on the hill crests, outlined against the bright sky. Just past the cemetery, on the left, is the beginning of Cornanagh, property of the Carradyne family, landowners since the first Carradyne did service for the Crown in the eighteenth century. Cornanagh means hill of the beast in the Irish, though many wonder that the Carradynes, Anglo-Irish and for generations loyal to the Crown, have retained the name. Except that the Carradynes insist that the beast is a horse and they have always been notable horsemen and -women and breed some of the finest hunters and hurdlers in the country. In that they have become more Irish than English and, even during the lean years and bad harvests of the previous century, made profit from the production of colts and fillies. If you drive into Cornanagh through the main gate and past the old gatekeeper's lodge, the way is lined by massive sycamores and beeches, which legend has it were planted by the first Carradyne. The house, enlarged from an original farm manor of the late 1600s, faces east to the sea, with a gracious prospect of the undulating main fields and pastures of the estate. Past the house on the right are the extensive stables and then the huge walled garden, established in the mid-eighteenth century to amuse and delight the ladies of Cornanagh, sheltered from wind and storm, watered by the little stream that flows down from the hills and into the sea at Kilcoole. Old fig trees cling to its walls; pear, apple, and cherry trees flourish; and raspberry, gooseberry, and quince bear blossom and fruit in their time. But to find the heart of Cornanagh, continue on the Kilcoole road past the formal entrance, past the high wall that girds the menagethe outdoor exercising ringand to the strap-iron gates set between the old coach house and the stable block. Turn into the courtyard, past cow byrnes and right into the yard, its cobbled surface neatly swept on this February evening. Lights, set high on the stable walls, illuminated the quadrangle. The horses all had their heads over their open upper ...

Auteur

Anne McCaffrey, one of the world’s most popular authors, is best known for her Dragonriders of Pern® series. She was the first woman to win the two top prizes for science fiction writing, the Hugo and Nebula awards. She was also given the American Library Association’s Margaret A. Edwards Award for Lifetime Literary Achievement in Young Adult Fiction, was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame, and was named a Science Fiction Writers of America Grand Master. Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1926, McCaffrey relocated to Ireland in the 1970s, where she lived in a house of her own design, named Dragonhold-Underhill. She died in 2011.

Texte du rabat

Amidst the grandeur of the emerald countryside, a magnificent story unfolds. . . .

They are the Carradynes, who for more than 200 years have bred and trained horses of the finest caliber on Cornanagh-a land so beautiful it inspires the soul.

But all is not idyllic at hearth and home. At the center of the conflict is Catriona, the youngest child, a girl who dreams of riding her family's big jumpers and show horses. Her father, Michael, is keenly aware of her immense talent, and he urges her on-only to lock wills with his insufferably pious and overbearing wife, Isabel, a woman who cannot bear horses, who cannot bear his touch. Her goal is to put stiff dresses, tight shoes, and perfect manners on Catriona.

It is a stalemate of pride and passion-until the day Lady Selina Healy enters their lives. Poised, beautiful, and warm, she too knows imprisonment in a loveless marriage, she too admires good horses, she too finds enchantment in Cornanagh. She falls in love . . . with Catriona, who becomes the child she never had; with the splendid lush land; and with Michael, the consummate horseman and gentleman.

Échantillon de lecture
February 1970
 
 
 
FOLLOW the coast road to Greystones, turn right at Blacklion, and watch out for the traffic haring up from the town—some of the drivers buy their licenses at the post office. Stay on that upper road past the Orchard Pub and continue straight through the crossroads at Killincarrig. The right-hand road leads to Delgany, and the left turns back down to the sea. At Pretty Bush turn right and up the hill— mind the children who play in the road—and continue on past Kilquade’s cemetery. There’s a grand view from there of the sea and the convent and the mountains, not yet greening with spring but with twisted pines marching on the hill crests, outlined against the bright sky. Just past the cemetery, on the left, is the beginning of Cornanagh, property of the Carradyne family, landowners since the first Carradyne did service for the Crown in the eighteenth century.
 
Cornanagh means “hill of the beast” in the Irish, though many wonder that the Carradynes, Anglo-Irish and for generations loyal to the Crown, have retained the name. Except that the Carradynes insist that the “beast” is a horse and they have always been notable horsemen and -women and breed some of the finest hunters and hurdlers in the country. In that they have become more Irish than English and, even during the lean years and bad harvests of the previous century, made profit from the production of colts and fillies.
 
If you drive into Cornanagh through the main gate and past the old gatekeeper’s lodge, the way is lined by massive sycamores and beeches, which legend has it were planted by the first Carradyne. The house, enlarged from an original farm manor of the late 1600s, faces east to the sea, with a gracious prospect of the undulating main fields and pastures of the estate. Past the house on the right are the extensive stables and then the huge walled garden, established in the mid-eighteenth century to amuse and delight the ladies of Cornanagh, sheltered from wind and storm, watered by the little stream that flows down from the hills and into the sea at Kilcoole. Old fig trees cling to its walls; pear, appl…