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£ GBP
Born in June 1883 to an aristocratic Scottish family, Dorothy Gibson-Craig was brought up with dogs and horses. In 1926 she married Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Brooke, recipient of the Distinguished Service Order in World War I and a writer on equine culture. She followed her new husband to Cairo, where she discovered thousands of malnourished and suffering former British war horses leading lives of backbreaking toil and misery.
Brought to the Middle East by British forces during the Great War, these ex-cavalry horses had been left behind at the war's end, abandoned like used equipment too costly to send home. In Dorothy Brooke and the Fight to Save Cairo's Lost War Horses Grant Hayter-Menzies chronicles not only the lives and eventual rescue of these noble creatures, who after years of deprivation and suffering found respite in Brooke's Old War Horse Memorial Hospital, but also the story of the challenges of founding and maintaining an animal-rescue institution on this scale.
The legacy of the Old War Horse Memorial Hospital and its founder endures today in the dozens of international Brooke animal-welfare facilities dedicated to improving the lives of working horses, donkeys, and mules across Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
List of Illustrations
Foreword
Preface
Introduction
Prologue: Dorothy
Part 1. Dawn Raiders
1. Cupid
2. Old Bill
3. Old War Horse Fund
4. Black Friday
Part 2. Adventure
5. An End and a Beginning
6. Street of the English Lady
7. Going Home
8. World War
9. Their Portion Is Gardens
Epilogue: Brooke
Acknowledgements
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Grant Hayter-Menzies is the author of several books, including From Stray Dog to World War I Hero: The Paris Terrier Who Joined the First Division (Potomac Books, 2015) and Shadow Woman: The Extraordinary Career of Pauline Benton. Monty Roberts is an American horse trainer and the New York Times bestselling author of The Man Who Listens to Horses: The Story of a Real-Life Horse Whisperer and others.
"An eye opener not only for horse and animal lovers, but for all history enthusiasts."
– Dorian de Wind, Huffington Post
"A tribute to a courageous woman who worked to reduce suffering."
– Temple Grandin, author of Animals Make Us Human
"This lovingly researched, evocative biography of Dorothy Brooke proves her a heroine not just to the battered and beaten old war horses she saved in 1930s Cairo but to those who continue her legacy today."
– Susanna Forrest, author of If Wishes Were Horses: A Memoir of Equine Obsession
"A galloping tale of the intertwined histories of the last days of the British Empire in Egypt, the politics of human-animal relationships, and an organization whose work continues to this day."
– Alan Mikhail, professor of history at Yale University and author of The Animal in Ottoman Egypt
"This book is a superb tribute to Dorothy Brooke and to her belief that such a charitable venture would form 'a fitting part of a War Memorial.' [...] Utterly compelling."
– Joanna Lumley, actress and advocate for human rights and animal welfare
"A story of deep connection, compassion, empathy, and love. Thanks to the author for making Dorothy Brooke visible and for taking the time to tell us about a most amazing and compassionate woman."
– Marc Bekoff, author of The Animals' Agenda: Freedom, Compassion, and Coexistence in the Human Age
