Casanova huntsman Tommy Lee Jones with writer and horsewoman Rita Mae Brown.
LOCAL SCRIBES
The peaceful surroundings in Middleburg have long provided inspiration for local writers. The late Jane McIlvaine McClary wrote many novels, including A Portion For Foxes, a roman-a-clef about life in Hunt Country. Some folks are still trying to match the fictional characters with the real-life ones.
In 1956, Jane co-wrote a non-fiction book called My Antarctic Honeymoon: A Year at the Bottom of the World with Jennie Darlington, who is the real character in this true tale. Jennie, who lives at the appropriately named Chilly Bleak Farm, was married to the late adventurer Harry Darlington (Some folks in Washington will remember his mother, Ethel Garrett, who saved the circa 1828 columns from the East Portico of the Capitol and underwrote their permanent installation at the National Arboretum in the mid-1980s).
Harry “Skipper” Darlington, Jr. and daughter Cynthia Beyer and son-in-law Charles Beyer also live in Hunt Country.
Rita Mae Brown was at the Horse Country Saddlery in Warrenton, signing copies of her latest book, The Tell Tale Horse. In the novel’s first pages, the body of a naked woman is found inside a tack shop closely resembling the one at which the book signing took place…. Rita Mae has cleverly “written in” several locals, including shop owner Marion Maggiolo. Publisher’s Weekly said it best: “Suspects abound among the well-heeled and well-mounted….
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Nani Power’s Feed the Hungry: A Memoir with Recipes is due out in April. Her previous books were Crawling at Night, The Good Remains and The Sea of Tears – a character-driven novel set in a Washington hotel.
Noel Grove was a staff writer at National Geographic for 25 years. While there, he wrote numerous articles and two books. Noel and his wife, Barbara Payne (managing editor of the Loudoun Times Mirror in Leesburg), have lived in this area for 28 years.
Noel’s latest book, The Lure of Loudoun: Centuries of Change in Virginia’s Emerald County, is rich in detail and is sure to serve as a historical reference for years to come. Co-author Charles Poland, Ph.D., a Loudoun native, contributed information based on his academic dissertation.
While researching for the book, Noel says he was “astounded to learn that, contrary to everything I’d ever been taught, the European colonists did not defeat the Indians with superior technology. They killed them off inadvertently by diseases against which the natives did not have any immunity.”
Chapters in the book include: “Horse Country” and “The Last Days of Unchallenged Agrarianism.” The vintage photos, maps, and ephemera – along with color photos – add to the context.
Noel is currently doing final edits on a novelistic true story of a murder trial he covered years ago. “I trace the killer’s life and try to explain his actions,” he relates. He’s also starting research for another book, this one about two women – one of whom had poor health, ghastly looks, and yet became admired, and one who seemingly had everything and yet ended up in prison.
Journalist and historian Marc Leepson’s latest book is Desperate Engagement: How a Little Known Civil War Battle Saved Washington, D.C. and Changed American History. It’s an account of the Civil War Battle of Monocacy and Confederate General Jubal Early’s march on Washington.
Marc and wife Janna live at Chilton, the former home of late Washington attorney Hobart Taylor.
Marc says of his research revelations: “It really was a matter of hours, maybe a day at most. If Wallace had not held Early up for an entire day at Monocacy (July 9, 1864), Grant would not have had time to bring troops from Richmond to defend the city.”
Charley Matheson, an architect by training, reveals his artistic side in a handsome tome: Hunting Sketches on the Run, a collection inspired by his following of the hounds. A life long foxhunter, Charley began riding with Casanova Hunt, where his grandparents owned Spring Hill Farm. He has ridden with Orange County Hunt since 1970.
Charley began these sketches in September 2006. “I thought it’d make an interesting visual diary,” he says.
The elegant artwork, notes and narrative are printed on super-fine eggshell paper by Mowhawk. The most enjoyable part of his project? “Sitting alone in advance of hounds and preparing to sketch the moment when a fox breaks.”
Tally Ho.
