Silver Brumby books from Finland.
| Finnish Title | Translation | English Title |
| Thowra, hopeaharja | Thowra, silver-mane | The Silver Brumby |
Information on Finnish titles courtesy of Heta Rikala.
Where to buy the Silver Brumby Books. |
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Once again finding these titles has become problematic. Probably Ebay and some of the second hand online book sellers will give the best results at the moment.
Retailers that were (are?) stocking them include:
Aussie Books new copies,
Aussie Books zShop (preloved),
Angus & Robertson, Collins Booksellers or Dymocks.
You could also check the
HarperCollinsPublishers ordering page for lists of other retailers that may stock these titles.
These online retailers are usually prepared to send books overseas. I have been contacted by people who have successfully ordered books this way.
Failing that, there's always Ebay. Quite a few titles show up there at reasonable prices.
Click here to run a search that will return the current listings.
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The Books
This, the first in the series of brumby books by Elyne Mitchell was written for the eldest
of her four children.
Thowra, a cream wild horse and his half brother Storm are loners. Even as foals
they know their country better than others of their herd. Where they lack in
strength, they rely on intelligence and knowledge. Is this enough to help them as
they grow from foals to stallions? Follow Thowra's adventures as he tests wits with both
man and horse. Will he be able to keep the filly he stole from man, Golden, the most
beautiful cream filly in the high country? Does he have what it takes to avenge his
sire's death and become the king of the Cascade brumbies?
In this story, Elyne Mitchell and her ski party makes a cameo appearance. No mention is made of their names, but the reference to the skiers who lasso a bay colt and souveneir some of his tail hair obviously refers to them. The whole story can be read in Australia's Alps.
The latest release includes "Wild Echoes Ringing", the very last brumby story written by Elyne Mitchell.
Map of the area featured in The Silver Brumby.
Also called The Snow Filly
Kunama is Thowra's first foal out of Golden, the mare he captured from the stockmen.
She is a wild free spirit, and the lure of the black stallion Tambo draws her from Thowra's
secret valley. The joy of running with Tambo and his two other mares leads to her staying
out in the Cascades too long. She is seen by men, and there is nothing men love more than
to catch and keep a silver horse.
Picture - The first edition of Silver Brumby's Daughter.
Lightning, Thowra's second foal out of Golden is two years old, so Thowra takes him
south to find a kingdom of his own. With them goes Baringa, Kunama's and Tambo's
yearling colt. Despite Lightning's obvious beauty, it is Baringa that wins the
heart of the most beautiful filly of Quambat flat, Dawn. Baringa will have to use all
of his cunning and all he has been taught to keep Dawn. And what of the hidden filly?
Said to be as beautiful as Dawn, is she real, or just a creature of myth?
This has to be my favorite book of the series, with Baringa my undisputed favorite
character.
Dawn is swept away in a river, and Baringa must leave his other mares to find her.
Unaware of this, Lightning wants Dawn more than ever, and brings even more trouble
to Quambat flat by stealing another stallion's mares. Thowra comes south to visit
his beloved grandson, Baringa only to hear tales of how Baringa has died fighting
Bolder, a killer, and that Lightning seeks Dawn. What is the truth behind Baringa's
disappearance? Where is Dawn? And who will come out on top when an angry black
stallion comes to Quambat flat seeking his mares?
Picture - The first edition of Silver Brumby Kingdom.
Map of the area featured in Silver Brumby Kingdom.
Wurring, almost a yearling, and the image of his great sire Winganna, is a golden chestnut
with a mane and tail the color of living light of the sun.
When Winganna brings a hauntingly beautiful mare and her filly foal to the herd, Wurring
is drawn to the tiny filly despite himself. When the beautiful mare
dies, only Wurring has the courage to approach the orphan. He calls her Ilinga because
she has come from far away. She becomes his shadow, to the envy of the other foals.
Where is she from? As she grows, she becomes more and more beautiful, glowing with the
beauty of the moon, and it becomes obvious that her dead mother must have been of great
value. What happens when an ugly and mean iron grey stallion comes looking for what he has lost?
Is Ilinga's and Wurring's love for each other enough for them to overcome the odds?
What of the legend that say that before the moon and sun can be together, the
light of sun must almost be extinguished?
This book comes a close second when it comes to me picking favorites.
Written as the conclusion of the Silver Brumby series, this story brings together
the stories of Moon Filly and the Silver Brumby series. As is obvious, more
books were written, though this is the last story in which direct dialog is
used between the brumbies. All future books use the dialogless style of Moon Filly.
His favorite mares having died of old age, Thowra goes north for a summer, where
he courts Yuri, the firstborn daughter of the sun and the moon, Wurring and Ilinga.
Will he be able to keep Yuri safe from the sons of the iron grey, and the furies of
a killer storm? And what of the hundreds of brumbies that come to see if it is true
that the great silver stallion really is alive?
Will Thowra be able to reach his beloved Ramshead, far to the south, where he was
born and where his mother's bones bleach, to keep his appointment with destiny?
Thowra left Yuri after only one spring, summer and autumn. Now Yuri follows an unheard call
from the south, where Thowra went. With her she takes her tiny son Wirramirra, a
silver brumby like his sire. He also hears the call from south. Will their determination
lead to disaster, as blizzards and storms, hunger, and the two iron greys
who pursue them take their toll. And what of Kulali, the gentle brown stallion who follows
Yuri wherever she goes? What awaits them in the land to the south?
Will they ever find Thowra?
Wirramirra's silver foal Tiarri is blown from his mother by a ferocious storm. It dumps
him by an orphaned silver dingo pup. After Tiarri saves the pup from an eagle, the three
somehow form an improbable, but unbreakable bond. Together they fight to survive as first the
two silver creatures seek their mothers, then later as the three fight any enemies that are
unsettled by the unusual alliance, and the blame these animals put on them for events they do
not understand.
Dandaloo, an old blue roan mare has her last foal. He is ugly and crippled, but she
loves him with a love stronger than any she has felt before. None the less, there is
a magic about strange little foal. He can dance, weaving a spell around all who watch,
both the creatures of the bush, and man. Will Choopa survive the brumby hunts, bush fires
and the cold of winter as he roams the mountains with his mountain creature friends,
his father Son of Storm, and Dandaloo as she seeks ways of making him stronger?
What will other horses think of the little dwarf? Will they accept or kill him?
What of the men that are captivated by the little horse's dance?
When Coolawyn and her foal are swept away by the flood, her foal drowns. But the
same river that took the life of her foal brings her another, a white colt with
red eyes. Who is this white colt, and why is he so attracted to his own reflection?
What of the legends of the midnight gallopers? Who are they? Is it true that
hearing them warns of disaster, of fillies that go missing or that are found dead?
Old Strawberry, a roan stallion that lives near Choopa's favorite lakes decides that the ugly
little dwarf should not be allowed to survive. Choopa has other ideas. Not only will he mock
the older stallion while persisting with his own quest, Choopa is quite determined to win
Old Strawberry's beautiful miniature daughter for himself.
Man is in the mountains again, and one is determined to catch a particular stallion as his thousandth brumby. With the help of a working dog, and a dingo, will the stallion be able to avoid capture?
This is a compilation volume. The cover uses the same picture as the 1999 edition of The Silver Brumby.
It contains these four stories:
- The Silver Brumby
- Dancing Brumby
- Brumbies of the Night
- Dancing Brumby's Rainbow
Each story is complete, not abridged.
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The night the new pony mare Gay arrives at the cattle station, Sprite, the stallion to
whom she was to be mated dies. Instead she is used as a stock horse by the stallion's former
owner. Eleven months later, to everyone's surprise, she gives birth to a lovely chestnut colt, Fire.
Her owners can only guess who sired the colt, and try to preserve Sprite's bloodline through
a bad tempered black stallion. It not until a foal is born to a little brumby filly that
the truth of Fire's parentage is known.
There is a tiny cameo by one of the Silver herd in this story!
When Buzz, a thoroughbred bay colt from the Snowy River homestead is lured into the wild
by the beautiful and independent filly Yarrawa, the Reid children are heartbroken.
They head out into the previously unexplored country of the Snowy Mountains in
search of their beloved and valuable colt. Will they find him? Will Buzz be able
to survive in the wild?
The tale of Buzz is set in the 1850s, years before the Silver Brumby series.
Picture - The first edition of The Colt from Snowy River.
When Buzz's first son Nooroo, now a yearling, becomes trapped and injured,
Buzz goes to seek help from the family who raised him. He must bring the Reids
across miles of mountainous bush to where his injured son lies. They must then
get the injured horse back to the homestead.
Faster than his sire Buzz, Nooroo lives an exiting life, spending some of his time running
free as a brumby, the rest at the homestead of the Reids, or racing other horses at local race meets.
Will the calls of Babilla, the most desirable red-bay brumby mare, lead Nooroo to disaster or
will be able to resist her calls of promise and stay at the homestead where his beloved pony
mare Honey lives.
This book is based on the screenplay of the film The Man From Snowy River. It is fitting that Elyne Mitchell wrote this book because it was her husband Tom's father, Walter Edward Mitchell who introduced Banjo Paterson to Jack Riley, the real "man from snowy river".
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This was Elyne Mitchell's first published book. Of particular interest to brumby
story lovers are the photos of the alps, and the photos of the brumby Elyne and her companions
caught, an event that was part of the inspiration for her writing the brumby stories!
This is Elyne Mitchell's autobiography, up to the end of World War II, and the story of her
ancestors. Read about Elyne's adventures and experiences in the same places that her brumby
stories feature. Read Elyne's comments on the inspiration behind The Silver Brumby, The Silver Brumbies of the South and Silver Brumby Kingdom.
Note: I believe this book is also out of print.
By Peter Oliver.
This book gives a brief description of the making of the Silver Brumby movie, includes a few "behind the scenes" color photographs, and the story based on the screenplay. I picked mine up on Ebay for $2.00. I've since seen one sell for over $80.00, simply because the seller mentioned it contained a picture of Russell Crowe!
While it has the same title as the above book, and was printed around the same time, it is very different. It contains many glossy pictures from the movie, some full page, and a very simplified story line. 24 pages plus the covers.
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Page design and maintenance by Ken Stone sasami@hotkey.net.au.
Direct all enquires regarding this page to
Ken Stone.
While all care has been taken to insure information presented here is
correct, it is given as a guide only.
Page design copyright 1997 by Ken Stone. Original photos and art copyright 1997 by Ken Stone
The Silver Brumby and all other titles mentioned here are Copyright ©
Elyne Mitchell.
The current publishers are
HarperCollinsPublishers
25 Ryde Road, Pymble, Sydney, NSW 2073, Australia
31 View Road, Glenfield, Auckland 10, New Zealand
77-85 Fulham Palace Road, London W6 8JB, United Kingdom
Hazelton Lanes, 55 Avenue Road, Suite 2900, Toronto, Ontario M5R 3L2
and 1995 Markham Road, Scarborough, Ontario M1B 5M8, Canada
10 East 53rd Street, New York NY 10032, USA
For more information on these books contact your local bookseller.
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It wasn't until I found myself in bed with the flu and nothing to do that
I looked at the books again, and found to my surprise that they were fantastic.
Having read and really enjoyed my four books, I went searching and found Moon Filly
at the school library. While written in 1968, its existance was not acknowledged in
the 1973 printing of the Silver Brumby books. It immediately became one of my
favorite books. A year or two later, around 1981, I found my own copy of Moon Filly at a
distant newsagency as part of a boxed set of five novels, Moon Filly
having been reprinted in 1976 and boxed with the four books from the 1975 printing.
As the books had been on the shelf for a while, the gentleman at the counter was
quite happy to split the boxed set so that I could take my prize.
Elyne Mitchell's style has changed through the series too. Moon Filly, initially unrelated
to the Silver Brumby books was written in a dialogless style, with horses communicating in
manners more consistent with real horses. One more book was written in the original style
after this, Silver Brumby Whirlwind, intending to complete the series, and my copy, the
1978 reprint, states that it is indeed the final book of the series. Fairly obviously, this
is not the last book in the series. This book ties Moon
Filly to the Silver Brumby series by having Thowra court Yuri, the moon filly's first foal.
The other books mentioned below have a more human perspective on the brumbies. Three
are related, two being sequels to the first, and the others are stand alone. Of these,
only one book, the first of the series of three appears to have been recently in print (1992).
