Terence Blacker's novel, Racing Manhattan (Andersen Press), is a fast-paced story with a powerful emotional core, a National Velvet for our times. Jay is a teenage misfit with an extraordinary talent for understanding racehorses - and riding them. When she leaves home to work in a stable, Jay forms a bond with a grey mare called Manhattan. Apart, Jay and Manhattan are nothing special; together, they will take the male-dominated world of horse racing by storm.

Terence writes for newspapers including the Independent, plays the guitar, writes songs and lives in his house in the Norfolk countryside which he converted from a goose hatchery. His previous novel, The Twyning (Head of Zeus/Candlewick), is an epic story pitting rats against man.

Twitter: @TerenceBlacker