Talking about books on Radio 4 with Dan Damon

On Sunday 26th July, author Sophie Neville spoke to Dan Damon on 'Broadcasting House', the BBC Radio 4 signature Sunday morning programme repeated at greater length on the BBC World Service series World Update, which you can listen to by clicking here.

Dan asked her about making the film 'Swallows and Amazons', commenting on the enduring success of Arthur Ransome's story.

'It is the childhood we want for our own children,' Sophie told him, and people want others to see the film that caught their imagination as a child.

The programme includes an interview with Robert Thompson, the piratical skipper of the Coniston Launch,  chatting from Coniston water and Rusland Church in the English Lake District where Arthur Ransome and his wife are buried.

Sophie Neville, who played the part of Titty in the 1974 film, divulges some of the secrets of filming, as recounted in her bestselling ebook and illustrated filmography published by Classic TV Press entitled 'The Making of Swallows & Amazons'

Reviews of 'Ride the Wings of Morning' on Goodreads

A collection of letters written between the author and her family during the time she spent convalescing and working in South Africa, this lovely volume also contains artwork completed during the years she was there. I enjoyed this book very much and would love to meet the author. 

A wonderfully refreshing book, innocent, appealing, very funny, insightful . . . a must read if you like witty, human life stories. Richard Pilbrow

Loved this book as it reminded me so much of my childhood in rural Zululand, South Africa, in the 1990s. Loved Sophie's adventures, and African experiences.

Thank you, Sophie, for sharing your experiences with us! 

A recent review from a rider ~

5.0 out of 5 stars Fabulous! 

"Ride the Wings of the Morning" is a fabulous read and within a couple of pages I was transported to the African bush. The places and the characters are captured brilliantly. It brings to life some of the reality of life in the bush and the ridiculous situations that you do find yourself in...

Sophie writes with such wit, humility and perception. I did chuckle out loud several times! Even my non-horsey husband enjoyed it as he has had to be dragged around Africa ...   ~ Jane Dawson

A review from Belgium ~

As a South African living outside of SA at the moment I am really enjoying this book, recognising places Sophie writes about. Sophie Neville and her family have a great sense of humour, and the letters going back and forth between them often have me laughing out loud. The art throughout this book is fantastic.
Tammy Visagie ~ Belgium

Book Club comments about 'Ride the Wings of Morning'

'I loved it. It made me laugh. I now know Sophie's family are totally dotty. I enjoyed it.'

'I absolutely loved it.'

'It's terribly important that it is true story.'
'Much more facinating.'
'It's too acute for it to be made up.'
One reader said she sees 'a miniscule part of life that so funny...'

'I don't know one end of a Springbok from another but I love the illustrations.'

'I think it's fantastic; a great book to have by the bed. I kept dipping in.'

'I've spent a lot of time in Africa. I find the letter format a bit disruptive for a long read but it was good fun to dig in and out of. I think the family are hysterical. It's fascinating.'

'It has certainly whetted my appetite for travel.'

'There's an endless demand for animal stories.'

'Tamzin (Sophie's sister) writes very well - it reads well.'

'I don't do letters. They don't keep me awake. Because I have arthritis in my hands I found the paperback too long and too heavy physically - it is very heavy. Literally too heavy weight-wise for holiday reading. I didn't like the double spacing, but I thought the drawings were lovely - what a way to live.'

'The letter format would make it a good train book, perhaps best on Kindle.'

'This book made me feel I wanted to go on an adventure and I liked reading about the Army wife. It's a book you can pick up and put down but I prefered Funnily Enough.'

It was agreed that whilst ride the Wings of Morning stretches the reader into new dimensions on a physical level, Funnily Enough stretches one spiritually.

'I've enjoyed it more than Sophie Neville's first book.'

'My mother loved the first book ~ Funnily Enough. She's quite particular, very particular about what she'll read, and she was really thrilled with it.'

A New Review ~

Chris Warne's review of 'Ride the Wings of Morning' by Sophie Neville for the Stroud News and Journal ~ 19th Septemebr 2012

A review published on Amazon ~ by Katy B

While the majority of her friends and family were following a more conventional path of marriage, having children and earning their livings in the UK, Sophie took off to South Africa to move on from her years of ill health suffering from the debilitating effects of CFS.

This exchange of letters between Sophie in Africa and two of her sisters and a few of her friends in the UK, chronicles her amazing adventures and new life, whilst at the same time giving a parallel account of 'normal life' back home in the UK through the sisters' and friends' letters.

It is this juxtaposition of Sophie's life against what is going on elsewhere which serves to highlight just how extraordinary and exceptional her adventures were. While others were dealing with sleepless nights, childcare issues and settling in to domestic early married life, we can live the dream vicariously of what might have been for us too, if we had made the same choices as Sophie as she lived in a country where apartheid was still the norm, where the animals and wildlife were wonderfully diverse, unpredictable and beautiful and where her adventures with the horses and safari work add humour and great interest.

The book is fantastically illustrated by Sophie and includes a great variety of drawings, maps, cards sent home for Christmas and other occasions and cartoons, all of which are eye catching and contribute to the enormous pleasure of this book.

But it is not all whacky humour and eccentricity - Sophie explores some of the more difficult questions of life here too, just as she did in her first book, 'Funnily Enough'. But this time although there is some reference to her strong and inspirational Christian faith, she deals more with human issues of relationships, and her honest concern and ever present worry - 'I long to be loved and in love'. Buy this book and read it - you will enjoy it!

A review by Peter Bell ~

Ride the Wings of Morning (lovely title) is a terrific sequel to Sophie's marvellous Funnily Enough; further following her life of extraordinary exploits and adventures, now in southern Africa. Some horrific, most delightful, but all fascinating and very amusingly told by way of correspondence to and from her more conventional sisters. Her parents and many friends from Africa also feature as do a veritable profusion of Sophie's joyful and individual style of sketches, drawings and paintings that have become even more assured as time progressed. Many are brilliant! (Especially her splendid cartoons!)

Sophie has a wonderful knack of inclusion of her readers in all her writing. She is very observant, particularly of the absurd, the ridiculous and comic juxtapositions as well as the mundane and it shows in the great warmth, engaging honesty and infectious humour in her writing. The reader is privileged that she shares this somewhat maverick part of her life in which she gives so much of herself. Again! I was ever more captivated by this book but in a slightly different way to Funnily Enough. A truly fascinating read from much obviously painstaking work.

Only a full read of this marvellous 542-page book can do it the justice it deserves that no review of mine can hope to achieve. Unplug the phone, shut out the English 'summer' and indulge yourself with Sophie in the warmth of her true life in a world so far apart from your own! She is a uniquely talented and individual person and this extraordinary work is to be deeply savoured and enjoyed. Tops on any scale of hugs and highly recommended by me as one of many here. The printed editions are to keep for ever.
Thank you so much, Sophie. Thanks also to Perry, Tamzin, and 'Mum and Dad'. I really look forward with great enthusiasm to the promised next instalment. Quite lovely!

Peter Bell on Ride the Wings of Morning

Reviews and comments ~

What Sophie did next ~

Following her illness with ME/CFS, Sophie Neville travelled to South Africa to stay with a friend, and the different climate led to her rapid recovery. This book is the account of what she got up to over the following few years. Quite a startling mixture - horse safaris, travelling, painting, holiday management and media work in South Africa as it made the transition from Apartheid to full democracy.

It is presented in the form of letters (mostly) between her and her sisters, so the book uncovers the warmth of the relationships within the family, and is written with immediacy and freshness. Much other ground is also covered - the wildlife, plenty about horses and misbehaving cars, lively descriptions of the ex-pat and local workers and tourists, a vivid sense of the locations that Neville is writing about. The book also includes as illustrations many of the pictures she drew. In the meantime, the way in which the lives of Tamzin and Perry unfold in Europe is another story.

As with Funnily Enough, this was a book I really hadn't expected to be engaged by - but I was. Thoroughly recommended. P. M. Fernandez

'This is gorgeous work Sophie, you have a real gift for drawing people into your wonderful adventure in a real and intimate way. I feel almost as if I had been there with you. Great work! ‘ Skye Wieland, Queensland, Australia

‘I am reading your book now on Kindle about your time in Africa and I love it! What a sense of humor you and your family have!’ Allen Hunt

‘I love how you’ve captured your journey with sketches and watercolour paintings.’

'I am  loving your book. Your mother sounds like a riot! Love the mama donkey work!’ Kate Coleridge, writing from Cape Town.

Comments on Facebook and via e-mail

'Have just started "Ride the Wings of Morning" & really enjoying it!' Penelope Bossom

'I was reading the first chapters of the Kindle to my daughter last night before she went to bed. She laughed so much, and loved the pictures in colour. Hopefully it'll encourage her to continue reading in the paperback.' Lisa Scullard

' It's lovely, so tempting to put all else aside and get lost in your descriptions. It must have been such a joy to put the book together. Such rich memories, and I love your way of seeing things and the words you use. You are a truly gifted writer and illustrator and I rejoice with you. I think my girls will get more out of this one, especially since it's letters between sisters.' Wendy Chandler, South Africa

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I LOVED this book! Even more than 'Funnily Enough', which I also loved! Your family is a hoot, and your letters tell so much about your life. What fun that you found a place that allows to be well, and that you have met such wonderful people in the process :-)  ... Thank-you, Sophie & Amazon! I am so excited to have another of your books on my Kindle.  :-)" Elizabeth Rondthaler Jolley, USA

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'...extraordinary, unique, inspiring, real -  I don't know how else to describe what I have just read' Annie Ogilvy, South Africa

'I couldn't resist looking at Wings of Morning this afternoon.  I love the way you write to your sisters and the close and easy style you all use with one another.   It's all very readable, funny and sweet.' Lucy Woodd, Scotland

'What a beautiful title.' Chronic Fatigue Support

'Love Sophie's book...' Jane van der Westhuizen, Perth, Australia

'Have enjoyed both books and look forward to more... keep writing.'  Jane Edgar

 "I had a hard time setting your book down--such a good read! And I was really disappointed when it ended :-)"

'I'm also enjoying "Wings" - too much - I'm failing to get my next OU essay done ...' Paul Fernandez  '...lovely book. My wife is making her way through "Funnily Enough" at the moment and I've little doubt will move on to "Wings". We also have some ex-pat readerly South Africans in the church, to whom I've recommended the books ....'

'....your book works so well at the moment because the format you've chosen simply takes life as it comes.' Paul Fernandez, again

'Will try Amazon. I must have this book!!' Topsy Eschenburg

 'By hook or by crook we will find a copy.'  Douglas A Groves

In the African tradition, Jenny Nash has written about Ride the Wings of Morning in her Blog ~ Shamwari Chaidzo

Book Reviews ~

I would highly recommend this book to anyone. Its enlightening, funny and addictive reading. After reading Funnily Enough it was nice to see what the author did next. Brilliant read!!!  Sara Maughan ~ Hampshire, UK



Just a pleasure to read  

Thank you Sophie for sharing your delightful letters and wonderful insights into South Africa. I loved the pictures, although they were a bit hard to see on my tiny kindle screen. I think you have a beautiful family, funny, smart, compassionate and loving. Your horses are marvelous and your style of writing is gripping. I couldn't put my kindle down! ~  Vivienne

African Odessy 

We're really enjoying this. Since just before the Book Fair I've been reading this aloud to my daughter on my Android colour Kindle app. She is schooled at home, and wildlife facts and anecdotes are some of her favourite things. It also contains the political history recorded as it happened, from possibly the time of the greatest late 20th Century upheavals occurring in Southern Africa.

The colour illustrations are great - if you only have a b/w Kindle, download the Kindle app for your PC as well, and you can retrieve the book from your archived items to see them in colour.

We love the humour, it follows on really well from the first memoir 'Funnily Enough' - comments about 'alien invader species' and what it's like trying to sleep outdoors on a groundsheet next to a flatulent horse meant I had to keep stopping reading while my daughter rolled around laughing and making sound effects. Great stuff :)

As this one is written in the form of letters, not a diary as the first book is, and is in the genre of Travel this time rather than Christian reading, the subject of God retires gently to arm's length here, but what you do get is more of the wonderful endearing sibling exchanges and comedy pratfalls being recounted back and forth between Sophie and her friends and family in the UK. Sophie even has a visit from a BBC wildlife crew she has arranged to help find rhino, who are annoyingly elusive that day, and is harangued on the phone by a young TV executive who wants 'wild leopards, at dawn, in a tree, eating antelope'. Worth every pixel ~ Lisa Scullard, UK 

An extraordinary, funny, enchanting, book that will surprise the reader - a delicious soufflé of reading pleasure.

Sophie writes of her adventures in Africa. After a busy life in television, and recovering from debilitating illness in England, she determines on a radical change and moves from a chilly, damp British winter to the blistering heat of Southern Africa. And there she can no longer be an invalid. She plunges into the hectic life of horseback safari camps, driving trucks through rivers and desert, cooking, handling horses, killing snakes, organising the tourists and supervising the always characterful local labour. With her we meet fascinating, heart-breaking, funny, and sometimes infuriating characters. And the animals: thrilling, or entertaining encounters with elephants, aardvarks, crocodiles, antelopes, lions, leopards, hyenas, hippopotamus and rhinoceros, and a panoply of other exciting wildlife.

But the core of this wonderfully entertaining book is Sophie's correspondence with her wonderful family; Granny, Mummy and Dad, her three sisters and a bevy of children, friends, and other relations who create a web of hilarious anecdotes. Anecdotes and other adventures in love, life, dogs, cats, rabbits, donkeys, otters, and babies.

Sophie is as delicious an artist as she is a writer. The book is packed with wonderful sketches and watercolours that make these stories spring to life. A minor criticism would be that the exigencies of Kindle eBook publishing results in all the illustrations being very small. Happily I soon discovered that a little finger work can zoom to larger images, and every single one is worth expanding.

Such a light-hearted story is also pervaded by a keen awareness of reality. The struggles of a African post-Apartheid society, the deadly spread of Aids, the chaos after civil war, the problems of life for a British army wife . . . and just bringing up all those kids. These stories contain all the contradictions of life itself, but are told with such heart-warming honesty, humour and humanity.

I must admit to a personal interest in Sophie. In 1973 I produced the feature film of Arthur Ransome's SWALLOWS AND AMAZONS. One of my childhood stars was a delightful twelve-year-old Sophie. This book suggests that she grew up to be a most special woman.

A delightful book. Strongly recommended to bring a real ray of sunshine into your life. ~ Richard Pilbrow ~ Connecticut