Horse
Geraldine Brooks
Horse
Geraldine Brooks
Winner of the Fiction Indie Book Awards 2023, Winner of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards 2023, Shortlisted for the ARA Historical Novel Prize 2022
'He tilted his desk lamp so that the light fell on the image. The head of a bright bay colt gazed out of the canvas, the expression in the eyes unusual and haunting.'
A discarded painting in a roadside clean-up, forgotten bones in a research archive, and Lexington, the greatest racehorse in US history. From these strands of fact, Geraldine Brooks weaves a sweeping story of spirit, obsession and injustice across American history.
Kentucky, 1850. An enslaved groom named Jarret and a bay foal forge a bond of understanding that will carry the horse to record-setting victories across the South, even as the nation reels towards war. An itinerant young artist who makes his name from paintings of the horse takes up arms for the Union and reconnects with the stallion and his groom on a perilous night far from the glamour of any racetrack.
New York City, 1954. Martha Jackson, a gallery owner celebrated for taking risks on edgy contemporary painters, becomes obsessed with a nineteenth-century equestrian oil painting of mysterious provenance.
Washington, DC, 2019. Jess, a Smithsonian scientist from Australia, and Theo, a Nigerian-American art historian, find themselves unexpectedly connected through their shared interest in the horse - one studying the stallion's bones for clues to his power and endurance, the other uncovering the lost history of the unsung Black horsemen who were critical to his racing success.
With the moral complexity of March and a multi-stranded narrative reminiscent of People of the Book, this enthralling novel is a gripping reckoning with the legacy of enslavement and racism in America. Horse is the latest masterpiece from a writer with a prodigious talent for bringing the past to life.
Review
Gabrielle Williams
Geraldine Brooks is famous for having brought us her owndistinctive take on the Black Plague, the life of King David,and the search for a rare manuscript during the Bosnian War,among other things. This time around, she’s delving into theastonishing true story of America’s most famous horse (thatnobody’s ever heard of).
Lexington was a phenomenon, a champion both on theracetrack in his short career (winning six of his seven races) andon the stud farm in his retirement. But as the memories of hisfame faded, so too did his place in the history books, and up untila few years ago, his skeleton was languishing in a dusty attic inthe Smithsonian Institute.
Brooks brings to (fictional) life the three main players inLexington’s life – his early owner, Warfield; his second owner,Ten Broek; and his trainer Jarret Lewis, a Black man who wasas much the property of Lexington’s owners as the horse was.This isn’t just the story of a horse: this is the story of racism andprejudice running throughout different periods of Americanhistory. It’s the story of a modern-day romance between twoscholars. It’s the story of skeletons and beetles that eat deadflesh. But at its core, it’s the love story of the man, Jarret Lewis,and the horse, Lexington.
As with each of Brooks’ books, the historical detail isastonishing, and you can’t escape the sense that this is reallyand truly the way things happened. The barns, the barbers, the drawing rooms, thestreets, are all skilfully and convincingly drawn. The cruelty of humankind towardsanimals, as well as the cruelty of humankind towards itself feels real. This is a huge book,with enormous themes, beautifully and engagingly written. Expect it on all the prize liststhis year. Brilliant!
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