SEPTEMBERR 2020 THE RIDER /47 Surviving Lockdown On Horseback


New Book Offers A Countryman’s View Of Britain During The Coronavirus Pandemic Of 2020


Mix Of A Deep Country Idyll Contrasts With City Catastrophe, First Reviewers Hear Echoes Of Proust, Garrison Keillor, Laurie Lee And Dylan Thomas


‘Life in a Time of Plague’ is a new book by Julian Roup, author


of ‘A Fisherman in the Saddle’ and ‘Boerejood’. ‘Life in a Time of Plague’ is the story of Britain under the first


75 days of its unprecedented Covid-19 lockdown, seen from the au- thor’s rural East Sussex valley home. The book has won plaudits from the Whitbread Prize winning


Irish poet and Oxford don, Bernard O’Donoghue, author of Seamus Heaney and the Language of Poetry (1995), who says: “It is a won- derful account of the time of coronavirus; I especially like the reverie at the end with its sense of time regained in that Proustean way. The writer, Julian Roup has a great gift for evocation and description.” From the refuge of a seemingly idyllic country idyll, the book


monitors in bleak and forensic detail the failure of the Government to protect Britain, and its woeful response at every stage of the pan- demic. The author’s age and medical issues colour this diary with a


dark humour, as his age group is most at risk. He is determined to make his 70th birthday at least, despite the thousands of death in Britain to date. It is a quiet slow appreciation of the bright and dark spring and


summer of 2020 in the English countryside, set against the horrors faced by frontline workers to whom the book is dedicated. However what is most surprising is that amid the death, heartache and economic carnage, there is a silver lining, the chance


to simply stop and stare, and rethink our lives. BLKDOG Publishing say: “We are delighted to be able to pub-


lish Julian Roup’s new book. His writing has been described by the FT as: “Brilliant, terrific, really very, very good. Engaged, intelligent, personal, fast moving and funny.” And this new book underlines that gift.


To buy a copy of the book link to: https://www.blkdogpublish- ing.com/post/_roup


Author Julian Roup comments: “With this terrible threat hanging over us I felt a need to add my voice to what will become the human


The Knabstrupper Horse - hunting for the old genes I recently viewed the feature


length documentary about the old Danish horse breed, the Knabstrupper and it was the first time I had ever heard of the breed. In fact, there are only about 350 living Knabstruppers left in the world in the breed’s original form. The Knabstrupper horse, with its unique personality and dalmatian- like spots, appears in prehis- toric cave art throughout Europe, and my heart skipped a beat when the camera panned across the drawings of ancient man hunting all manner of wildlife and then….it stops on the perfectly painted horses we now recognize as Knabstruppers. A handful of people in


Denmark and Germany have spent decades working hard to bring it back from the edge of extinction, sav- ing the horse through pure breeding practices. Film- maker Irene G. Scholten fol- lowed these dedicated caretakers over a five-year period which has resulted in this stunning 87 min. docu- mentary which features the breed’s cultural and historic background, told by both descendants of those who actually bred them, and by those who are now key to saving the horse from total extinction. The film has partici-


pated in several interna- tional


film festivals,


receiving several awards in- cluding the Equus Film Fes- tival, New York (Dec. 2018) where it won ”Best Interna- tional Film”; the Equus In- ternational Film Festival in Missoula, Montana (March 2019), where it received two awards: “Best Independent” and “Best Historical Film”. It won Silver for both


“Soundtrack” and “Best Documentary Feature” at the International Independ- ent Film Awards in 2019, and won the prize for ”Best International Docu- mentary” at the Equinale Film Festival in Neuhof, Germany in September 2019.


Horse lovers around the world can now view the film online by log-


ging on to https://vimeo.com/onde- mand/theknabstrupperhorse and The Rider


congratulates filmmaker


Scholten for her beautiful cinemato- graphic essay on a breed we must not allow to disappear. \


Glenda J. Fordham For THE RIDER


story of death and survival of this pandemic that has brought the world to a screeching halt. And to hold this woeful Government to account, as it has failed to protect Britain.” A Foreward by writer, editor and broadcaster, Ivan Macquisten,


says: “A plague on him dammit – why didn’t I get there first? This is the standout lockdown diary. I have long come to appreciate Julian Roup’s ready wit, lilting tones and gently reflective delivery. He em- ploys all this deftly to draw in the reader with a charm that bewitches – but beware, because when his deeply driven liberal conscience is offended by our lords and masters, he can break that spell with a sharpness that makes you catch your breath. Listening to him is a little like being a batsman watching the


reassuring whites of a village team spin bowler as, slowly drawing back his arm, he trots up to the crease, only to discover a split second later that the stumps have gone and the umpire is directing you back to the pavilion after you’ve been caught by a googly. Roup is a seri- ously good writer with a heft and tone that echoes the mesmerising delivery of the great Garrison Keillor. “ An early review in BizNews where the book was first featured


as a podcast, described it as “a mix of Cider with Rosie and Under Milkwood.” The book is published by BLKDOG Publishing in London and


is available on Amazon Books and Barnes & Noble. https://www.blkdogpublishing.com/post/_roup For more information and review copies (provide street address


please) contact Bendigo Communications info@bendigopr.co.uk Phone: +44 (0)7970563958


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