My second book review, about a very different and much shorter publication, needed quite a bit of time to be spent on it arising from queries on my first draft raised by the books editor. I hope it’ll appear in next Sunday’s Racing Post.
I’ve also been composing a review of The Blood Is Racing, mentioned here six weeks ago. The only place it might appear is here, but as the author has asked me to write it, I will discuss it with him first.
I’ve spent some time on Bromley finding maps of the district around the racecourse before and after its existence. Will these help me to establish its location? I speak only of the principal course, which lasted only fifteen years, not long enough to catch the eye of map makers.
I was at Newbury last week, where two book signings were advertised. One for me, after the third race, attracted rather less attention than the second one, which was Jilly Cooper signing dozens of copies of her new hardback Mount! Hopes I had of us sitting together and swapping one of hers for one of mine were dashed. It’s good that it will have increased awareness of my books, for all of them were on display and I chatted to quite a few people about them. Buyers, however, were elusive.
I looked in on Bath racecourse about ten days ago, and my goodness it has changed since I was last there in July 2015. The plush new stands look top-notch inside and out, although to enjoy all of them – and I’m thinking of the new Roof Garden – racegoers do have to pay a premium. It was great to meet the staff there, even more so as they gave me an impromptu guided tour and were complimentary about the book. I was pleased to see they had used it to give names to various parts of the new facilities and are keen to play up the heritage aspect.
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