National Velvet

Velvet Brown dreams of horses. She cuts images from old magazines, creates bridles and saddles for them, “rides” them through the village streets, brushes them down with a soft tissues, and “stables” them in a small shell-covered box on the living room shel

Velvet Brown dreams of horses. She cuts images from old magazines, creates bridles and saddles for them, “rides” them through the village streets, brushes them down with a soft tissues, and “stables” them in a small shell-covered box on the living room shelf. In one chance-filled week, she wins the local runaway piebald in a raffle and she inherits five horses on the whim of an old gentleman-neighbor whose last act is to deed them to her. She has an intuitive sense for each horse’s character, and her understanding binds them to her. When Mi, the family’s hired hand, comments on the Piebald’s almost-effortless ability to jump any pasture fence or other barrier to his free run of the village, saying, “A horse like that’d win the National,” Velvet sets her heart on his winning. The charm of her character is that she dreams of winning, not for herself, but for her horse.

Velvet’s mother represents the wisdom dreams fulfilled. Araminty Potter was the first woman to swim the English Channel in her youth – breast stroke, against the tide, in choppy waters with a storm about to break. It was a battle of strength and determination against all the forces of nature and fate arrayed against her. She returned home amidst to overcome the tide of reporters and eventually marry an obscure butcher, George Brown, and rear five children. Her dogged determination and her appreciation for the value of realizing a childhood dream, make Velvet’s quest a personal triumph and a precursor for greater (though less press-worthy) accomplishments. To her husband, she says, “On’y leave that child to me. She’s got more to come. You think the Grand National’s the end of all things, but a child that can do that can do more when she’s grown. On’y keep her level, keep her going quiet . . . an’ you’ll see.” In her wisdom, she knows how to bring out the best in her children, just as Velvet brings out the best in the horses.

Mi’s fulfillment comes in helping Velvet achieve her dream. His father, Dan Taylor, coached Araminty Potter to record-setting triumph. Mi knows what he sees in Velvet and, like his father, finds the his greatest joy in helping a youngster realize her great potential. “He thought of her mother . . . and of his old father . . . . His mind went back to Velvet. He too, like her, was longing to place his dream in history.”

The beauty of this story is in the skill of its author. Enid Bagnold's characters are revealed largely through dialogue between family members. Their conversations take some getting used to, as more is unsaid than said, as is typical with family conversation. The reader enters into the family situation with no background provided and must piece together the family’s history and personalities from allusions and references that eventually develop into a clear portrait of a common, yet remarkable, southern English family. If the reader can accept unfamiliar vocabulary and references through the first third of the book, the plot will become clear and the characters will become real, with all their flaws, strengths and hopes.

I highly recommend National Velvet to the patient reader, horse-lover or not, who will be richly rewarded with insights into the hopes and determination of those who seek their dreams, and the loving support of family and others who encourage and cheer the dreamer.