Forging On

A warm and funny debut novel about a trainee blacksmith navigating his first year in the Yorkshire Dales – perfect for fans of Countryfile, James Herriott’s All Creatures Great and Small and the bestseller, The Shepherd’s Life.

When Will – soon to be known as ‘Posh Lad’ – starts as an apprentice for Stanley Lampitt, he expects horses, fresh air and a solid training in forge-work and horses. What he gets is Stanley, ‘six-foot-six of tattooed muscle, with a gleaming shaven head’ and Ewan, raised at the bad end of the Cribbs Estate. It’s a baptism of fire.
After a rocky start – Will doesn’t drink Yorkshire tea – the three settle into a rhythm, barrelling around Yorkshire in a series of dodgy vans, forging iron and shoeing horses. Whether it’s dealing with Stan’s dog Lucky – the Jack Russell with the heart and soul of a serial killer – or a 17-hands stallion aptly-named Earthquake – Will learns his lessons the hard way, all the while ensuring Stan and Ewan don’t catch on to his phobia of chickens…
With a cast of rich Arabs, stingy old ladies, ex-footballers, gypsies, glamorous polo wives and a host of different horses, a few donkeys and the odd llama, together they navigate the highs and lows of romantic entanglements, swarms of bees, combustible chickens and daily pranks. And by the end of the year, ‘Posh Lad’ has learnt a whole lot more than what it is to be a good blacksmith…

(p) 2017 Isis Publishing Ltd