(783) Proof by Dick Francis

I have read a condensation of this novel from the Reader's Digest condensed stories many years ago.  I love books, but due to my nomadic live style, I keep very few books with me. This book is safely kept among my niece's collection.

For whatever reason, I have always loved reading about horses ever since I put down the book "Black Beauty" many years ago. According to my maternal uncle who kept the clan's ancestral books, my great-grandfather was born in Hubei. It is pretty far north in a very poor area, agriculturally speaking. My great-grandfather brought his family in a few stages down south, my grandfather was born in the Canton area in the 1900s. Looking at that kind of information, it is highly unlikely that I came from a horse riding race. From my father's side, his ancestors had lived in the mountainous region in the tri -state border area of Kwantung, Fuchian and Toew Chew. It was also a poor and little developed area due to the remote location and mountainous terrain. But, it is likely that five, six generations back, both sides of my fore bears descended from the warrior class further north. I secretly thought that my horse loving heart came from way back in the period of history of many wars in northern China.

Back to the story, I really enjoyed reading it as it introduced me to the world of wine and horses ( training stables). I found it exciting to read about a man who could tell exactly by taste which wine is from which region. It sounded like a perfume expert who could distinguish between 500 to 600 perfume or fragrances. I also learned a little bit about horse training from this book. It enabled me to ask intelligent questions when I had the privilege to meet a horse trainer in a care group pot bless dinner a few years ago.

From this book, I went through the grief a man who lost his beloved wife and unborn child. While I realized that theoretically a man could love as deeply as a woman, in everyday life it is seldom like that. It gladdens my heart that somewhere in this wide big world, one particular woman was being missed and her husband did not get over losing her in six months. You may laugh, it is fiction, after all! But in my imaginary world, if one man could write a convincing story, he has to either have experienced it first hand or witnessed it happening. On top of all that I have mentioned, it is a very well paced investigative adventure of pursuing crime: stealing and substituting alcohol, murder and cover-up. The wine merchant found that he was not such a coward as others and he himself thought. Being a hero (winning a military medal ) did not mean not being afraid at the time before the battle. His grandfather and father were war heroes. If you are a closet romantic, this book would be a book that you would really enjoy.