Jemma Sparks Jill Books

21/07/2024

The fourth bundle of my Jill books, cheaper than buying the ebooks separately in Amazon only 9.99 GBP.

16/06/2024

I've started up The Pullein Thompson Sisters FB group, and I've also been working on a new website. It is still being constructed but it might be of some interest to my readers.

Sign up to become a member of this site and you will have access to Jemma's short stories. The first featured in this section is a work-in-progress "Henry and Diablo". At the end of the second short story in The Jill Crewe Miscellany No. One Henry Thornton buys Diablo off Porsche Pevensy. 

15/06/2024

I've just created a new group The Pullein Thompson Sisters. There is a The Jinny at Finmory books and the Jinny and Shantih group, and of course the group Jill by Ruby Ferguson, so I felt that the Facebook world needs a Pullein Thompson group.

17/05/2024

Bundle of Jill books No 2: short story, Book 4 and Book 5 buy all 3 in one ebook in Amazon.

06/05/2024

Magical light providing an incredible backdrop for a dolphin in Doubtful Sound 🐬⁣

📍 Doubtful Sound, Fiordland
📸 /IG

06/05/2024

I have started bundling my Jill ebooks which makes them cheaper

Jill Crewe has lived in a perfect world of ponies and gymkhanas in a small English village, Chatton. Discouraged from a career with horses, she is about to reluctantly go off to secretarial college when her life is turned upside down. Her mother announces that she is getting married again and the...

27/04/2024

The work of a self-publishing author is never done. My latest quest is to bundle the ebooks in my Jill series into a series of publications. This makes them a little cheaper to buy. I have done the first one. If you would like to check it out.

The Jill books by Jemma Spark take up the story of Jill Crewe from the last book written by Ruby Ferguson, 'Jill's Pony Jobs'. Jill's mother has married Richard Micheldever and they have moved to a castle in the Scottish Highlands with extensive equestrian facilities: stables, an indoor arena, an...

27/04/2024

This is my new cover but the old one still show up on the link of one of my Jill ebooks free this weekend.https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08L939L4N

27/04/2024

25/04/2024

Following my free giveaway the other week of my first book in the Jill series, 'Jill Rides Cross-Country', the successful launch of my 11th book, "Jill and the Wild Horses' I am doing another free giveaway this weekend of a short story published a while ago.'Jill and the Mystery of the MIssing Horse.'

20/04/2024

One of my Jill books has been translated into French.

Jill Crewe vivait dans un monde parfait de poneys et de chevaux dans le petit village anglais de Chatton. Découragée par l’idée d’une carrière dans les chevaux, elle est sur le point d’aller dans une faculté de secrétariat à contre-cœur quand sa vie bascule. Sa mère lui annonce qu’e...

17/04/2024

15/04/2024

No. 2 in best sellers 'Jill and the Wild Horses'

13/04/2024

This is the 11th Jill book available on Amazon as an ebook, paperback, hardcover and Kindle unlimited

11/04/2024

I have just been delivered my new Ariat riding boots. Love them! Tomorrow setting to go riding in the Snowy Mountains searching for Brumbies, just like Jill does in my latest book 'Jill and the Wild Horses'

11/04/2024

How many years since I have had new Ariat boots! Love them! For riding in the Snowy Mountains, looking for Brumbies, just like Jill in my latest book 'Jill and the Wild Horses'

10/04/2024

https://open.substack.com/pub/jemmaspark/p/jill-and-the-wild-ponies?r=1rwnth&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true

11th book in Jill Series, Chapters 1 and 2

10/04/2024

I've uploaded the first two chapters of my new book "Jill and the Wild Horses" onto my subtack. If you sign up (free of charge) then you will get news when I upload a short story.

09/04/2024

Paperback link for my new book published today!

Jill goes to Australia to go showjumping with the Heyward family. She had been told that her father died when she was a young child, but shortly before she leaves her mother tells her that her father is still alive and living in Australia. Struggling to cope with the idea of having a real father ...

09/04/2024

It's published! Book 11 of my Jill Series. Ebook link here

Jill goes to Australia to go showjumping with the Heyward family. She had been told that her father died when she was a young child, but shortly before she leaves her mother tells her that her father is still alive and living in Australia. Struggling to cope with the idea of having a real father ...

08/04/2024

Here is an extract from the 'Jill Crewe Miscellany No. One' which includes two short stories, and a compendium of human and horse characters. This book has only been e-published, but when the 'Jill Crewe Miscellany No. Two comes out then both will be combined in a paperback and a hard cover.

What was happening in 1964?

The 1960s were the epoch when the ‘permissive society’ was born. The contraceptive pill, psychobabble, and s*x were all on the agenda. Hemlines were going up, inhibitions were coming down, and the Beatles were all the rage. The lace curtains were being drawn back. The Cold War was raging, and there were a plethora of spies on both sides of the Iron Curtain. Guy Burgess, Donald Maclean and Kim Philby were in the news, and the Duke of Windsor’s N**i sympathies became known.
J F Kennedy was assassinated in June 1963, and his successor, a democrat, President Lyndon B Johnson, pushed the Civil Rights Act through in February 1964. This meant that discrimination based on race, colour, religion, s*x and ethnic origins became illegal in America. The Beatles had a 1964 UK tour and then a world tour and were greeted with hysterical enthusiasm.
In geopolitical terms, many African countries were in the process of seeking and gaining independence – in 1961, Tanganyika and Sierra Leone; 1962 Uganda; in 1963, Kenya and Zanzibar; 1964, Nyasaland, which was renamed Malawi, and Northern Rhodesia became Zambia; and in 1965, the Gambia. With the Cold War at its height in these years, both the United States and the Soviet Union were active in many African countries.
The cosy, innocent, pony-loving world of the 1950s, in which the Pullein Thompson sisters and Ruby Ferguson penned their classic pony books, was moving on. Writing Jill Crewe’s story as she becomes an adult in the 1960s is a challenge. In my books, Jill turns twenty-one in August 1964. The charm of Jill’s robust innocence was one of the qualities that Ruby
Ferguson’s readers loved. However, in terms of historical fiction, which is what the Jill books have become, one cannot entirely ignore the social context in which Jill is living as she grows older. I have tried to balance Jill’s horse-centric existence with the character of Dinah Dean, who has become involved in social issues. Then, there is the tricky issue of Jill moving into a relationship that may lead to marriage. Ann Derry is unofficially engaged to her boyfriend, the vet Henry Thurston. In contrast, Jill has remained resolutely single.
Although some aspects of life in the UK were changing, equestrian sports were as popular as ever. Horse riding became accessible to more ordinary people, not just the gentry and landowners.
Badminton in 1964 was a big event as it was the run-up to the Tokyo Olympics held in October. Major General James Templer won it on M’Lord Connelly, a 16.2 hh anglo-arab. This pair had come second at Little Badminton in 1962. Controversially, they had not competed in any previous events during the winter of 1963-1964 and went straight to Badminton. This made them unpopular with the pundits who felt that they should have been competing during the winter in the run-up to Badminton. M’Lord Connelly could be a
brilliant horse, but he also had a nasty ‘stop’ in him, and you could never be sure when he might put in a refusal. At Badminton that year, he gained maximum bonus points around the steeplechase and the fastest time in the cross-
country. James Templer did as he always did and ran beside his horse around the Roads and Tracks in order to save his mount’s energy. It was in the time before the course was roped, and he always took the straightest line between the fences. J. D. Smith-Bingham riding By Golly came second, and the Irish Olympic rider, Tony Cameron, riding Black Salmon came third. Sheila Waddington (née Willcox) won Little Badminton on Glenamoy.
Horses travelling to the Tokyo Olympics were flown in by air. If a horse became uncontrollable in the air, they had to be destroyed. This happened to the US eventer, Markam, and an Argentinian horse which was put down on the return flight. A Chilean horse died of a heart attack while flying.
The showjumping course was formidable. There were 46 riders from 17 nations. The most difficult jump was towards the end of the course, a 5-metre wide water jump, followed by a left turn to a very large oxer. Only six riders cleared the water in both rounds, and only three cleared it and the final oxer without faults. The French rider, Pierre Jonquères d’Oriola, won the gold on Lutteur B. The German rider, Hermann Schridde, won the silver on Dozent II, and the British rider Peter Robeson won the bronze on Firecrest. In the team showjumping competition, the gold went to the German team, the silver to the French team and the bronze to the Italians.
Peter Robeson had previously won a bronze medal in the team showjumping event in the Australian Olympics in 1956. His best horses included Craven A, Firecrest, and Grebe. He was married to Rene, an heiress to the Rothschild dynasty and together, they ran a small yard of homebred National Hunt racehorses. Peter was known for his dry sense of humour and no-nonsense style. He died in 2018.
Only six countries had sufficient rider and horse combinations to enter the dressage team competition: Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Japan, the Soviet Union and the USA. In those days, dressage was not big in Britain. In the individual dressage event, the Swiss rider, Henri Chammartin, won gold on Wőrmann, the German rider Harry Boldt, won silver on Remus, and the Soviet Union, Sergio Filotov, won the bronze on Absent. In the team dressage event, the Germans won gold, the Swiss won silver, and the Soviet Union won the bronze.
The three-day event competition consisted of a 31-obstacle cross-country course which was considered too straightforward for Olympic standards. In the individual competition, Italian rider Mauro Checcoli won gold on Sunbean. The Argentinian rider Carlos Moratorio won silver on Chalan, and the German rider Fritz Ligges won bronze on Donkosak. In the team eventing competition, the Italian team won the gold, the United States team won the silver, and the bronze went to the German team.
James Templer on M’Lord Connelly was in the British team after a fantastic win at Badminton that year. They were fourth after the dressage but eliminated on the cross-country when M’Lord Connelly refused the third jump from the finish.

This book includes a comprehensive list of 'Who's Who' in the Jemma Spark series of Jill books, including humans and animals. There are two short stories, the first, narrated by Jill, is 'The Engagement Party', which is the tale of Cecilia Talbot's engagement party held at Blainstock Castle. The ...

06/04/2024

Only 99c or 99p for this weekend, book 2 in my Jill series

Jill Crewe has left Chatton and is now living in a Scottish Highland castle with her mother and new step-father. She has a beautiful young grey horse, Balius, but she yearns for an older, trained mount so she can compete in open events in the coming year. She accepts a job as a secretary to Bryon...

05/04/2024

In addition to the promotion of free e-books for Book 1 'Jill Rides Cross Country' I am running another promotion this weekend with the 2nd book 'Jill Has Two Horses' only 99p or 99c

Jill Crewe has left Chatton and is now living in a Scottish Highland castle with her mother and new step-father. She has a beautiful young grey horse, Balius, but she yearns for an older, trained mount so she can compete in open events in the coming year. She accepts a job as a secretary to Bryon...

05/04/2024

05/04/2024

05/04/2024

The second item are these adorable cow print socks!

Knew length so they make the perfect riding socks and they pair so well with the rest of the Udderly chic range!

02/04/2024

I am racing towards publication of my 11th book in the Jill series, 'Jill and the Wild Horses' and have decided to do a free book promotion of the first book from 3rd - 7th April. If by chance you haven't read this book just click and download from Amazon.

Jill Crewe has lived in a perfect world of ponies and gymkhanas in a small English village, Chatton. Discouraged from a career with horses, she is about to reluctantly go off to secretarial college when her life is turned upside down. Her mother announces that she is getting married again and the...

31/03/2024

We’re out and about today getting photos of our new products…

We have some surprises we didn’t tell you about 🤫

Keep watching over the next few days 🫣