This collection is just, well, plain wonderful! William Boyd is older, of course, actually nearing the end of the fabulous Hoppy saga (his interpretation of it), but these are still wonderful in every way. The stories are fine, the characters authentic, the scenery excellent. Enough just hasn't been said about what a magnificent horse Topper really was! Look at that tail, that majestic gait! What a beautiful horse! And Hoppy, well, what youngster didn't want to know someone like that? He was and still is a true mentor thanks to the timelessness of film.Robert McDowell, The Poetry Mentor, is the bestselling author of POETRY AS SPIRITUAL PRACTICE, Free Press, July 2008