Horse

A discarded painting in a junk pile, a skeleton in an attic, and the greatest racehorse in American history 'I loved this book so much' ANN PATCHETT 'Brilliantly varied and with a galloping pace' MAIL ON SUNDAY 'A masterpiece' JANE SMILEY 'Thrilling' NEW YORK TIMES 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. When the nation erupts in civil war, an itinerant young artist who has made his name on paintings of the racehorse takes up arms for the Union. On a perilous night, he reunites with the stallion and his groom, very far from the glamour of any racetrack. 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. Based on the remarkable true story of the record-breaking thoroughbred, Lexington, who became America's greatest stud sire, Horse is an original, gripping, multi-layered reckoning with the legacy of enslavement and racism in America.

A discarded painting in a junk pile, a skeleton in an attic, and the greatest racehorse in American history 'I loved this book so much' ANN PATCHETT 'Brilliantly varied and with a galloping pace' MAIL ON SUNDAY 'A masterpiece' JANE SMILEY 'Thrilling' NEW YORK TIMES 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. When the nation erupts in civil war, an itinerant young artist who has made his name on paintings of the racehorse takes up arms for the Union. On a perilous night, he reunites with the stallion and his groom, very far from the glamour of any racetrack. 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. Based on the remarkable true story of the record-breaking thoroughbred, Lexington, who became America's greatest stud sire, Horse is an original, gripping, multi-layered reckoning with the legacy of enslavement and racism in America.

"Brooks' chronological and cross-disciplinary leaps are thrilling." -- The New York Times Book Review " Horse isn't just an animal story--it's a moving narrative about race and art." -- TIME " A thrilling story about humanity in all its ugliness and beauty . . . the evocative voices create a story so powerful, reading it feels like watching a neck-and-neck horse race, galloping to its conclusion--you just can't look away." -- Oprah Daily Winner of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize and the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award A discarded painting in a junk pile, a skeleton in an attic, and the greatest racehorse in American history: from these strands, a Pulitzer Prize winner braids 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. When the nation erupts in civil war, an itinerant young artist who has made his name on paintings of the racehorse takes up arms for the Union. On a perilous night, he reunites with the stallion and his groom, very far from the glamor 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. Based on the remarkable true story of the record-breaking thoroughbred Lexington, Horse is a novel of art and science, love and obsession, and our unfinished reckoning with racism.

Horse is an extraordinary novel of race, war and idealism. It is set partly in pre-Civil War Kentucky, partly in the New York of the 1950s. The story of Lexington, the fastest horse in nineteenth-century America, his black groom, and the white abolitionist who painted him is counterpointed with that of the woman who went on to own the horse's famous painting. Martha Jackson is at the centre of post World War 2's New York art scene, and the social and sexual turbulence of the 1950s. The collision of these two stories takes Geraldine Brooks's fans back to the brilliance of her Pulitzer-Prize winning March , and is her finest novel yet.

Horse is an extraordinary novel of race, war and idealism. It is set partly in pre-Civil War Kentucky, partly in the New York of the 1950s. The story of Lexington, the fastest horse in nineteenth-century America, his black groom, and the white abolitionist who painted him is counterpointed with that of the woman who went on to own the horse's famous painting. Martha Jackson is at the centre of post World War 2's New York art scene, and the social and sexual turbulence of the 1950s. The collision of these two stories takes Geraldine Brooks's fans back to the brilliance of her Pulitzer-Prize winning March , and is her finest novel yet.