Discover a story that defies belief: National Velvet meets Downton Abbey with a splash of Giuseppe Tomasi Di Lampedusa''s The Leopard.* WINNER OF THE 2020 TELEGRAPH SPORTS BOOK AWARDS BIOGRAPHY OF THE YEAR ** LONGLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR *Czechoslovakia, October 1937. Vast crowds have gathered to watch the Grand Pardubice steeplechase, Europe''s most blood-curdling sporting test of manhood. With war looming, the race has a brutal political significance. The Nazis have sent the SS''s all-conquering paramilitary horsemen to crush - yet again - the ''subhuman Slavs''. But Lata Brandisova, a silver-haired countess on a little golden mare, has other ideas...''Heart-stopping reading'' Clover Stroud, Daily Telegraph