Blacklisted by W.H. Smith. Only available from NYALI PRESS, Pinkhill Farm, Eynsham, Witney, Oxfordshire, OX8 1JQ. Tel: 01865 881357


The Black Madonna

St. Petersburg, 1804: Sirus, a noble Russian wolfhound is given to the Graf Mischa Czerny, an Austrian cavalry officer by the Grand Duchess Olga for a deed of outstanding bravery. After an ill fated duel with a Russian prince Mischa and his English comrade Lord Charles Fitzhugh have to leave St Petersburg. With a detachment of Cossacks they head for the garrison at Pyatigorsk in Russia's wild south, bordered by the mountains of the Caucasus. In this turbulent borderland the young officers encounter the beautiful Anna, a spirited golden-haired daughter of German settlers, and also the man who lusts after her, the fiendish Khan. Feared as the "Great Impaler", he is the vicious chief of a villainous tribe of bandits who inhabit the harsh mountains and valleys of the Caucasus. The Khan not only coverts Anna but also the Black Madonna, sacred battle icon of the Cossacks, who resides in the church at the garrison fort of Pyatigorsk.

Far to the west, Europe is in turmoil. Having abandoned an invasion of England, Napoleon marches his armies east to confront the forces of Austria and her Russian allies. Can the valiant Cossack regiment already in Austria be reunited with the Black Madonna, whose presence always leads them to victory?

A bloodstained escort guarded by the heroic hound Sirius battles through a thousand miles of steppe westwards to the heart of Europe.

The Black Madonna is an historical novel of the Napoleonic Wars. My Grandfather was a professional soldier of the Queen Empress and King Emperor. After the Russian Revolution, he was sent to the Crimea and the Caucasus to help the White Armies. He became Colonel of the 5th Kuban Cossacks. As a child I was surrounded by Cossack memorabilia and pictures of savage men with huge moustaches and daggers. Cossacks fascinated me. Cossack Armies liked to ride to war behind the sacred icon of the Black Madonna - her presence ensured victor. Her absence at the Battle of Austerlitz was accounted as the reason for the Cossack forces being cut to pieces. This book explains her absence. A ripping yarn of raid and counter raid, duels, hunts, cruelty and romance, villains the most villainous, heroic heroes and a heroic dog. Above the human struggle is yet another struggle, as the rising powers of East confront the waning power of the old Gods of the West. A satisfied reader said:

"Darling, I've just read your new novel - too, too, wet making."

Only available from NYALI PRESS, Pinkhill Farm, Eynsham, Witney,
Oxfordshire, OX8 1JQ. Tel: 01865 881357


The Hounds Of Heaven

Major Lord Frederick Fitzhugh, second son of the Marquis of Fowey has to leave The Life Guards due to his heavy losses with Lloyds. His future is as uncertain as the future of Foxhunting which Fred loves. The other love of his life is his hot-blooded Slovenian girl-friend, Katerina, a career journalist. Katerina's cousin,the beautiful and passionate Grafin Tatiana Czerny struggles desperately in the northern Balkans to keep her estate and Schloss Lippitz. Her husband was tortured to death in the Bosnian Civil War. Wolves, disturbed by the fighting, are once again roaming the mountains of Slovenia. The fast moving action switches between the ceremonial splendour of The Household Cavalry, the landed Gentry at play in the Hunting Shires and the gruesome battlefields of Bosnia. Willy Poole has been best known as a Master of Foxhounds and, more recently, as a distinguished country-side writer and much loved Daily Telegraph columnist. The Hounds Of Heaven was the first book (1995) and is particularly apposite today as it concerns the fortunes of an English pack of Foxhounds after a ban by New Labour Government. It has wolves, a thoroughly villainous villain, a Slovenian Countess (yes, blond) an extremely rocky road to romance and a touch of the metaphysicals in the person of "The Hunter" who appears in both books and who will be instantly recognisable to anyone with a passing knowledge of Norse mythology.

I knew I was touching nerve endings with this book, when a man approached me in a London Club: "You Poole?"I admitted the charge: "Got a bone to pick with you" Oh Dear!" Yes, I gave up sex 10 years ago, now your damned book's made me start again.The wife's not a bit pleased." In Bourton-on-the-Water (Glos) there is a bookshop that sells a lot of my books - enter a very old lady: " I want a copy of Willy Poole's new book and another for my friend who is the Lord Lieutenant of Cheshire." The Nice Book shop Lady scratched her head (she had read the book):

"I must warn you it's not quite like his other books."

"Never mind, if it's by Willy Poole, I'm sure that it will be quite all right."

The Nice Bookshop Lady arrived to open the shop next day to find the Old Lady on the door step, clutching her two copies of the 'Hounds of Heaven':

"I have sat up all night reading this book. It is sheer pornography. I cannot possibly keep it and I would not dream of sending a copy to my friend, the Lord Lieutenant of Cheshire."

Only available from NYALI PRESS, Pinkhill Farm, Eynsham, Witney,
Oxfordshire, OX8 1JQ. Tel: 01865 881357

There were 7 other books published (all by Michael Joseph before the penguins ate it) Hunting (An Introduction) no, that was David and Charles, come to think of it - A Backwoodsman's Year,The Rustic Scribe, Arthur James and I, The Cheviot Ranter and The Fox's Prophecy. All out of print, but can sometimes be got second- hand.


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