Bolt
M. Joseph, 1986; Putnam, 1987
Characters
- Christmas "Kit" Fielding
- steeplechase jockey
- Danielle de Brescou
- engaged to Kit, Roland de Brescou's niece, works for a news bureau
- Princess Casilia, Mme. de Brescou
- Prince Litsi
- the Princess's nephew
- Wykeham Harlow
- trains the Princess's horses
- Dusty
- Wykeham's traveling head lad
- Maynard Allardeck
- member of the Jockey Club, aiming to be Senior Steward, hates Fieldings
- Holly Allardeck
- Kit's twin sister, married to Bobby Allardeck
- Bobby Allardeck
- trains horses, Holly's husband, son of Maynard Allardeck
- Thomas
- the Princess's chauffeur
- M. Roland de Brescou
- the Princess's husband, "a Frenchman of aristocratic lineage, immense wealth and advanced age"
- Gerald Greening
- solicitor for the Princess and her husband
- Dawson
- the Princess's butler
- Henri Nanterre
- Louis Nanterre
- Henri's father, Roland de Brescou's partner in business
- Valery
- John Grundy
- Roland de Brescou's male nurse
- Robin Curtiss
- vet
- Aunt Beatrice
- Roland de Brescou's sister
- Sammy
- guard <!--
- Madeleine Darcy
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- Roquevilles
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- Basil Clutter
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- Mr. Mohammed
- arms dealer
- Matthew
- little boy who helped with the coats to cushion Litsi's fall
- Bunty Ireland
- racing reporter for the Towncrier
- Lord Vaughnley
- owner of the Sunday Towncrier
- Arnold Vincent Hodges
- gave message to Litsi at the races
- Betsy
- Danielle's friend at the races, wife of a Lambourn trainer
Favorite passages
Spoiler warning. This passage gives away a pivotal moment in Bolt. Click to read it.
Favorite quotes posted by Ecvinal: Thanks, Ec! Sounds like Ecvinal read the same edition I did (same page numbers). I enjoyed the Personal Glimpse of Dick Francis and the excerpt from an interview at the end of the book. DF mentions several meanings for Bolt - For my favorite quotes I liked Kit's motto for life that Ecvinal chose and also the sayings Kit's grandmother often said, It's nice to be nice, and Hate curdles your brains.
Bolt is quite wonderful and I look forward to chat. Noticed on page 163, Kit's comment which applies to nearly all the DF books: 'The law doesn''t always deliver justice. The victim mostly loses. Too often the law can only punish. It can't put things right.' And on 184 Kit says, 'You never know. You can't get any results if you don't try'. Danielle comments that it's his motto for life.
The title has more than one meaning, of course. A horse can bolt, you can bolt the door after the horse is gone, and you kill with a bolt gun.
Chosen by members of the reading group in the late 1990s. From Bolt by Dick Francis.
The group read it
We discussed discussed Bolt on January 26, 1997.
This page was first written for the reading group's original site in the late 1990s and was lost when AOL Hometown closed. It has been recovered from the Internet Archive.