National Velvet

Plot

NATIONAL VELVET, by Enid Bagnold, tells the story of thin, sickly 14-year-old Velvet Brown and how she beats the odds to become an internationally regarded horsewoman. Velvet is a dreamer whose love of horses occupies her waking and sleeping thoughts. Her three older sisters also love horses, but their father, a butcher, can't afford to own animals that don't earn their keep. Mr. Brown's patience is tested when Velvet -- in a couple of surprising ways -- comes to possess several horses that once belonged to neighbors. Velvet's mother, however, was a great sportswoman in her younger days and is quietly supportive of Velvet's dreams. So, Mrs. Brown is taken into Velvet's confidence when the girl and her father's assistant, Mi (short for Michael), come up with a plan to give a fiery horse its chance to shine in the world's greatest steeplechase, the Grand National.