Holmes, Victoria

views updated

Holmes, Victoria

PERSONAL: Born in England. Education: Attended Oxford University.

ADDRESSES: Agent—c/o Author Mail, Harper Collins, 10 East 53rd St., 7th Floor, New York, NY 10022.

CAREER: Writer and children's book editor.

WRITINGS:

FOR CHILDREN

Rider in the Dark: An Epic Horse Story, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 2004.

The Horse from the Sea: An Epic Horse Story, Harper-Collins (New York, NY), 2005.

SIDELIGHTS: Victoria Holmes is a children's book writer and editor who has incorporated her love of horseback riding into her fiction. Her first book, Rider in the Dark: An Epic Horse Story, is about young Helena who lives on a country estate and loves riding horses so much that she gets her friend Jamie the stable boy to help her secretly ride her father's stallions. One night while she is riding one of the horses, Oriel, she learns that Jamie is part of a smuggling ring. Because of their friendship, Helena decides to remain quiet about it until local seamen began losing their lives because of "wreckers" luring their ships into disasters so they can plunder them. With the help of Oriel, Helena makes a dangerous decision to capture the wreckers. In the process she convinces her father to keep Oriel, who he thought could not be trained to be ridden safely.

Reviewing Rider in the Dark, Booklist critic Anne O'Malley commented on the unrealistic turn of events at the end of Holmes' story, but concluded: "horse lovers and historical fiction fans alike will find much to enjoy in the suspenseful plot and its plucky protagonist." A Kirkus Reviews contributor described the book as "an archetype of children's horse literature" that contains "overstrained breathless incredulity," while Deborah Stevenson noted in the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books that readers will enjoy "the opportunity to experience entry-level gothic on the way to Daphne du Maurier." Writing in School Library Journal, Kimberly Monaghan stated that Rider in the Dark "shines as a fast-paced tale appealing to readers with diverse interests."

Holmes's carries on the horse-riding theme with The Horse from the Sea: An Epic Horse Story. The book focuses on shy fourteen-year-old Nora, who rescues a ship-wrecked Spanish stallion she names Lir and a sailor named José. Nora nurses both back to health without her parents' knowledge, then finds she has more to fear than her parents: a devious chieftain and the English army. Writing for BridleandBit.com, Arija Weddle commented that "Holmes' sixteenth-century tale of intrigue, adventure, and a young girl's journey to self-realization is sure to thrill her readers."