The Inheritance - Jenny Pitman

This is the 5th in the series of books involving the horse trainer Jan Hardy and her family. I have actually managed to read the series in order so far, so can understand references to things about the past, but if you pick this one up and don't want to read the first 4 then it doesn't make too much difference, it could still be a good stand alone story.

For anyone who is not familiar with Edge Farm I will explain a little of the history.

Jan Hardy started to train horses after her husband died leaving her a widow at a very young age with 2 small children, megan and matty to care for on her own. She moves to a farm near her parents in the Cotswold's to start up her horse training business, the series follows her highs and lows in the cut throat world of horse racing with various side stories happening at the same time.

You don't have to be a lover of horses to enjoy this book, I have ridden a horse twice in my life and don't even understand how to place a bet on a horse let alone all the technical horse racing stuff, but I did find this book interesting.

Without spoiling too much of the plot in this book, as the title may give away there is an inheritance involved. This is an inheritance left to Ben, Jan's younger brother by an old family friend Colonel Gilbert. His children are not happy about Ben's inheritance and through out the book you find out why Ben was left something so unexpected. There are all the usual suspects in this book following on from the previous books with a few new faces too.

I have to say that at one point I felt that I has guessed what was coming next, only to find I was completely wrong and the story took a different direction. It made the book a real page turner trying to find out what the inheritance was all about.

There is a slight love story running through the series which is again present in this book, life never seems to run smooth though so you can not guess what will happen next!

I really enjoyed the book and know the characters well already from the other books in the series, the way Jenny Pitman writes really gets you feeling for the main characters. Also the way she writes the scenes at the races you almost feel as if you are at the races on the edge of your seat willing her horses to win!

I would recommend this book to anyone who loves horse and horse racing and also to anyone who likes a good story with the occasional twist.

388 Pages
ISBN 0-330-43424-1
Paperback £6.99
Published by Panmacmillan.