Trial Run
Harper, 1978
The original page carried a reader's review by Elizabeth Hawley.
Characters
- Randall Drew
- 32, jockey, farmer
- Rudolph Hughes-Beckett
- civil servant
- Lady Emma Louders-Allen-Croft
- Randall's girlfriend, works in a London department store
- Prince
- Johnny Farringford
- jockey, the Prince's brother-in-law
- "Alyosha"
- Hans Kramer
- 36, German jockey who died
- Natasha
- works for Intourist in Russia
- Anna
- works for Intourist in Russia
- Stephen Luce
- English student at Moscow University
- Nikolai Alexandrovich Kropotkin
- training the Soviet team for the Olympics
- Frank Jones
- tourist in Russia
- Malcolm Herrick
- Moscow correspondent of The Watch
- Oliver Waterman
- cultural attache at British Embassy
- Polly Paget
- works with Oliver at the British Embassy
- Ian Young
- cultural assistant at the British Embassy
- The Wilkinsons
- tourists in Russia
- Evgeny Sergeevich Titov
- Olga Ivanova
- Evgeny's wife, works in Cultural Relations
- Boris Dmitrevich Telyatnikov
- jockey, rode in the Russian team at the International Horse Trials in England
- Mikhail Alexeevich Tarevsky ("Misha")
- groom, training for Olympics
- Yuri Ivanovich Chulitsky
- architect, designing buildings for the Olympics
- Gudrun
- Stephen's girlfriend, German student at Moscow University
- Tarek Zanetti
- journalist
- Mehmet Sarai
- journalist
Favorite passages
Review of Trial Run written by Elizabeth Hawley Trial Run was written in 1978 and the story is set in Moscow. Randall Drew is on a mission for the Royal Family. A threat has been made against His Royal Highnesss brother-in-law to keep him from riding a horse in the Olympics. Drew must journey to Moscow to find out who is behind the threat and could this threat be embarrassing for the Royal Family. Drew is quickly drawn into a world very different from England. His hotel room is bugged, his every move is monitored, every action is looked upon with suspicion...how is he going to find answers to his unravel this mysterious Alyosha who seems to be behind the threat? Youll have to read the book to find out...thats most of the fun. Dick Francis always seems to be able to immerse us in the culture of the setting for a book. For me, reading about the culture of Moscow was part of the enjoyment of this book. I found a quote that made me laugh. Misha's sister says, Then she goes to wait in the line for boots and Randall's reaction made me laugh:
When boots come in shop, everyone come to buy. It is normal. In England, the peasants have no boots. In Soviet Union, we are fortunate.
The only thing that I could think of that England's bootless peasantry would so willingly queue all day for would be Cup Final tickets.
Chosen by members of the reading group in the late 1990s. From Trial Run by Dick Francis.
The group read it
We discussed discussed Trial Run on September 22, 1997 and again on February 22, 1999.
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.