The Story of an Audacious Contest
In November 1905, the peak of foxhunting season across the Midlands of England and up and down the east coast of North America, two tiny towns in Virginia’s Piedmont, poor and nearly forgotten after the Civil War and a recent depression, saw the coming of illustrious and wealthy foxhunters to raise their hopes.
There was to be a contest, a Great Hound Match, between two packs of foxhounds, one English and one American.
The English hounds carried, on their great stout forearms and deep chests, the monumental weight of centuries of foxhunting in England and were expected to make their hound dog ancestors proud of their New World conquest. The American hounds were expected to show those stodgy old Brits how it was done over here—with spunk and intuition, individuality, drive, and nerve. This book, the story of an audatious contest between men cut from very different cloth and their hounds carved from very different stock, chronicles a metaphorical battle in America’s coming of age—her psychic independence from Britain’s lingering shroud at the turn of the 20th century.
Coming in November, 2015
MARTHA READS
- September 22, 2015, 2pm.: National Sporting Library, Middleburg, Va.
- November 13, 2015, 6 pm: John Marshall Library, Marshall, Va.
Advanced Praise for The Great Hound Match of 1905
“Wolfe captures not only the essence of the time, but with clever word snapshots the essence of these two men, titans of their generation, and an event that could only have happened in that era. An astute and well-crafted read indeed.”
In our little corner of Virginia, we have raised three boys, a bunch of Connemara ponies, a couple of donkeys, a few cats who refuse to catch mice, some pigs and a couple of steers on their farm in the northern Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Each summer we “walk” foxhound puppies for the Blue Ridge Hunt.
The Story of an Audacious Contest
In November 1905, the peak of foxhunting season across the Midlands of England and up and down the east coast of North America, two tiny towns in Virginia’s Piedmont, poor and nearly forgotten after the Civil War and a recent depression, saw the coming of illustrious and wealthy foxhunters to raise their hopes. There was to be a contest, a Great Hound Match, between two packs of foxhounds, one English and one American. The English hounds carried, on their great stout forearms and deep chests, the monumental weight of centuries of foxhunting in England and were expected to make their hound dog ancestors proud of their New World conquest. The American hounds were expected to show those stodgy old Brits how it was done over here—with spunk and intuition, individuality, drive, and nerve. This book, the story of an audatious contest between men cut from very different cloth and their hounds carved from very different stock, chronicles a metaphorical battle in America’s coming of age—her psychic independence from Britain’s lingering shroud at the turn of the 20th century.
Coming in November, 2015
Days until THE GREAT HOUND RACE OF 1905 is published
Day(s)
:
Hour(s)
:
Minute(s)
:
Second(s)