EQUESTRIAN
Harriet Kent likes nothing more than to go out
riding, or to jump on her tractor to take part in
a ploughing match.
It sounds a pretty stable life for Harriet, who
was born in Calbourne and now lives just five
miles away in Carisbrooke.
Despite combining her
hobbies with her job as
a self-employed property
inventory clerk, Harriet
has still found time to
write her second novel
– appropriately called
‘A Stable Life’, which
was published recently.
It has been described
as ‘a compelling mix of
egos and erotica that
will appeal to people of
all ages. This torrid tale
moves at a galloping pace’.
The novel centres on
Manna Jacobs and her
husband Callum who run
Littlebridge Stables, an
eventing yard. Manna is a
woman on a mission. Cold, callous and utterly
determined, she will stop at nothing when it
comes to climbing the ladder in the ‘genteel’
writing poetry, and then I moved a step up by
writing novels.
“I help look after a horse at Lake Farm,
Rookley, and it is surprising how much
inspiration and ideas you pick up just talking
to people. I also enjoy
ploughing, and am only
one of a handful of ladies
on the Island who do it.
A friend used to lend us
a tractor to plough, and
then I had the chance to
buy a Massey Ferguson
35 about 10 years ago –
exactly the same one as I
first started on.”
Harriet’s ‘A Stable Life’
follows the successful 2007
publication of her first
book, ‘On Gallows Hill’,
a historical romp based
on a grisly 17th century
murder.
She is currently working
on the sequel to ‘A Stable
Life’ which will be called
‘Stability’, which she hopes to complete later
this year.
If that wasn’t enough, there are already plans
'I have ridden since the age of eight,
and coming from a farming
background it is in the blood'
world of three-day eventing. Horses are in
Manna’s blood, but her total focus on achieving
her goals could cost her dear when it comes to
personal relationships!
Harriet is hugely inspired by the stunning
landscape of the Island, and the people who live
here. She said: “I have ridden since the age of
eight, and coming from a farming background
it is in the blood. I always had an interest in
for a prequel, and Harriet is also currently
working on a super-natural thriller, based on
the Island, called ‘Dream Cottage’, which she
also hopes to publish this year.
*A Stable Life by Harriet Kent (published by
Artemis, RRP £9.99) is now available from the
publisher’s website www.artemispublishers.com,
and online at retailers including Amazon.co.uk.
For more information visit: hjknovels.webs.com
Picture by Laura Boynton
www.visitislandlife.com
79