The Chase

by Candida Clark

Saturday February 19th, 2005 marks the end of seven hundred years of riding to hounds in England... and the first day of illegal hunting.

In Wiltshire, a group of people are gathering at Eastleigh, home of Sir Leo Domeyne and his wife Celia. The family, no longer in its heyday, seems to arise to the occasion: the weekend has every appearance of being a last hurrah in spite of the ban.

But it's a fragile peace. Far more depends on this historic day than law, or politics, or social status. There are dark secrets hidden at the heart of the picture. Not everyone was invited; nor are their motives pure. Passion, jealousy and rage are simmering just below the surface and, as the classes mingle and old rivalries revive, it becomes clear quite how much can go wrong.

The hunt rides out. A fog descends. The field is divided. Two shots are fired.

Hardcover

First published April 3, 2006

About the author

Candida Clark is the author of six novels including The Last Look (1998) and The Constant Eye (2000). She has also written film-scripts, short stories, poetry and criticism.

Reviews

[Nancy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rather like a Jilly Cooper. An old fashioned English upper class romp - ridiculously oversold by reviews.

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm slightly surprised to be giving this four stars because although I liked it right from the start there seemed to be one or two initial hiccups. It wasn't, for example, easy to get a grip on when this was set, apart from the dates given, because things like metal dustbins I assumed had disappeared a decade and a half ago. Also the calmness of the voice sounded like someone possibly even older than me so it was a surprise to find that Candida Clark was born in 1970.

But slowly, effortlessly it drew me in. True, the people weren't those I'm familiar with, but it was interesting to read of them, and the lovely sensuous countryside descriptions and gentle pace were inexorable and I found it impossible to put down. A marvellous antidote to the fast-pace crime novels I also enjoy reading.

[Marilyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bunch of tedious toffs with soap opera-style secrets gather at an English country pile for an illegal foxhunt. A series of contrived misunderstandings sets the scene for tragedy . But the build-up leads to a disappointing payoff. If you are going to foreshadow an event from the very beginning, the resolution has to be earth-shattering, but here it is completely underwhelming. Matters aren't helped by a cast of two-dimensional upper-class stereotypes that consists of women with hidden depths and men who are pathologically incapable of understanding the opposite sex. The relationships ring false and everything is too neatly tied up in the closing chapters. Reading it felt like a waste of my time.

[Norma · Rating 1 out of 5]

Don't read it - awful!!!!

[Lizzie · Rating 2 out of 5]

don't bother reading this...

[Gillian · Rating 1 out of 5]

Don't bother