Biography Essay

Author of twenty-nine novels, which have been translated into nearly two dozen languages and which have sold more than twenty million copies, Dick Francis is unequaled at making horse racing come alive. In fact, Philip Larkin (Times Literary Supplement, 10 October 1980) calls his novels "brilliant vignettes," and admirers such as John Welcome (London Magazine, March 1980) point out that in his work "one can hear the smash of birch, the creak of leather and the rattle of whips." He asserts that no one can touch Francis at capturing the "tragedies and occasional triumphs," "the seductive beauties" of the track, and infusing them with a significance beyond their domain: "a microcosm of the contemporary world." Julian Symons has argued (New York Times Book Review, 29 March 1981) that what Francis does best is to capture the "thrills, spills and chills of horse racing." His prose is lucid, his plots ingenious, intricate...