VICKY MOON
Writer and photographer Vicky Moon has chronicled the lives of the rich, the not so rich, the famous, and the not-so-famous for more than twenty years. She has written about lavish parties, hunt balls, steeplechase races for People, The Washington Post, Town and Country, and Millionaire and magazines. She has chronicled homes and gardens for Verandaand Southern Accents, has served as a contributing editor for House and Garden and writes a monthly column for Washington Life. Ms. Moon is the author of many titles including The Private Passion of Jackie Kennedy Onassis: Portrait of a Rider and Equestrian Style: Home Design, Couture, And Collections from the Eclectic to the Elegant, The Middleburg Mystique, The Official Middleburg Life Cookbook, Best-dressed Southern Salads and A Sunday Horse. Vicky divides her time between the nautical capital of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, known as the “Venice of America” and the village of Middleburg, Virginia, “horse heaven” with wide-open fields. The town became widely know in the early 1960’s when the Kennedy’s made it their weekend retreat. Jackie loved it there; it offered her a place to get away from the glare along with the opportunity to ride her horses, which she loved. Vicky, too has been a rider all her life. Vicky was able to chat with Jackie, on several occasions, and her photo appears on the cover of her book, The Middleburg Mystique: A Peek Inside the Gates of Middleburg, Virginia. She can be reached at vickyannmoon@aol.com.
Kevin Sheehan Radio Show
With Frank Vespe of The Racing Biz
So delighted to speak with Eric Douglas of NPR
West Virginia Public Broadcasting is a state-wide licensee. We have ten transmitters all over West Virginia covering the whole state. That also stretches into the surrounding states, including Maryland, Pennsylvania, DC and Virginia.
Sylvia Rideoutt Bishop
Had A Way With Horses
A Pioneering African American Woman’s Career Training Race Horses
by Vicky Moon
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$28 – Autographed & includes postage!
Sylvia Rideoutt Bishop (Oct. 5, 1920-Dec. 27, 2004) was one of seventeen children born to a West Virginia family whose ancestors were enslaved. Sent to live with a nearby childless couple as a toddler, she was indulged with fancy dresses and one mesmerizing pony ride that changed her life. Her love of horses took her to the Charles Town racetrack at age fourteen to work as a groom, hot walker and then trainer, all the time fighting sexism and racial bigotry against a backdrop of the swirling Civil Rights movement. She prevailed to break barriers, shatter stereotypes and celebrate countless transforming victories in the winner’s circle with many wealthy clients. As a single mother after two failed marriages, financial reality forced her to take on extra work in the shipping department at a nearby Doubleday publishing factory. Never wavering in her passion, she returned to the track to train horses at age eighty. And finally, with little fanfare, she was honored for her pioneering accomplishments as the first black woman licensed to train racehorses in the United States. This never-before-told story will bring to life Sylvia’s love of horses and demonstrate her resolve and grit in confronting a litany of obstacles.
Equal Parts
A Tale of Ambition, Politics and Passion Inspired by Actual Events
by Vicky Moon
ON SALE!
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$16 – Autographed & includes postage!
In the powerful, intoxicating atmosphere of Washington, D.C., Isabelle Benton Stoker, a stylish interior designer in Georgetown, falls in love with Johnathan Dent, a prominent and very married attorney. They spend blissful times at out-of-the-way cafes, lunch-hour getaways and the iconic art museums of the Nation’s Capital. After all, who would suspect the hard-working lawyer from the horse country of Middleburg, Virginia would take such a chance? “EQUAL Parts” is set in Richmond, Charlottesville and Middleburg, against a vivid backdrop of fast horses and colorful characters. With a fusion of money and mayhem, the book weaves in rampaging foxhounds, wild women and several riveting plot twists. When Johnathan Dent finds himself a candidate for a U.S. Senate seat, he agonizes over an affair that could destroy his political ambitions, and perhaps even his career. Gennifer Flowers, Fanne Foxe and Donna Rice became famous for doing just that. Could Isabelle Stoker do the same? “EQUAL Parts” explores this classic tale of love and betrayal inspired by all too familiar events. It’s a story that has captivated historians since Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, Dwight Eisenhower and Kay Summersby, John Kennedy and Marilyn Monroe and Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky, among many others . . . Does it always have to end badly?
The Middleburg
Mystique: A Peek Inside the Gates of Middleburg, Virginia
New shiny red paperback $22- autographed with free postage.
To the passerby, Middleburg, Virginia looks like just another pretty country town, with rolling fields and a quaint downtown. But this village just 50 miles west of Washington, D.C., is not your ordinary country hamlet. The town has always included a cast of local characters. And as one resident aptly notes, ‘We have one of everything here.’ That everything includes politicians (the Kennedys, Harrimans), Hollywood celebrities (actors Robert Duvall, Elizabeth Taylor), philanthropists (Paul Mellon, the Firestones), as well as a cast of local residents that once prompted a visitor to ask, “What is it about you people out there in Middleburg? Is there something in the well water?” THE MIDDLEBURG MYSTIQUE is an inside look at the people, places, and mystique that surround this horse-crazy Virginia village. A best seller for a tiny place with more than 25,000 sold to date. The post office is the heartbeat of this village. It’s here that the news of the day—good news and bad – some of it true and the rest vaguely true—originates. There are 1,856 mailboxes. The zip code 20118 is so highly sought after, that there is a waiting list of 20-60 names at any given time. THE MIDDLEBURG MYSTIQUE reveals why “20118” is such a desirable zip code. Through the years, there have been scandalous stories of divorce, such as when actor Robert Duvall’s wife ran off with the “hunky” pool man; and murders among the rich, like when arms heiress Susan Cummings shot her Argentinean polo-playing lover. There are also stories of other less notorious, the freelance bartender who drinks his own mistakes, the party hostess who refused to call the rescue squad when her butler died just as the guests were arriving, and the woman who taught her 13-year-old grandson how to make a perfect Whiskey Sour on the theory that it was a necessary part of his liberal arts education, along with art appreciation and opera.