Horse by Geraldine Brooks

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.

★ “[Brooks] makes a masterly case for the generative power of retelling…[her] real accomplishment is that she also enables readers to feel the spirit of the place.” —The New York Times

★ “Horse mingles the past with the present, and history melds with well-informed invention…Brooks crafts an exceptionally sensitive portrayal of an enslaved groom and his special bond with Lexington.” —Smithsonian Magazine

★ “Brooks’ chronological and cross-disciplinary leaps are thrilling…[Horse] is really a book about the power and pain of words…Lexington is ennobled by art and science, and roars back from obscurity to achieve the high status of metaphor.” —The New York Times Book Review

★ “[Y]ou won’t be able to contain yourself while reading this elegant story about three generations of people inspired by the story of America’s greatest racehorse…This is a novel about love, anger, passion, and justice—unbridled and bursting.” —LitHub

Publisher: ‎ Viking (June 14, 2022)
Language: ‎ English
Hardcover: ‎ 416 pages
ISBN-10: ‎ 0399562966
ISBN-13: ‎ 978-0399562969
Item Weight: ‎ 1.37 pounds
Dimensions: ‎ 6.36 x 1.35 x 9.28 inches