Horse Summary, a historical novel by Geraldine Brooks, was published in 2022 by Viking, and is her ninth book. Her body of work includes six novels and three nonfiction titles. Her novel March, about the life of Louisa May Alcott, won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2006.
Her novels are set in diverse historical periods: Year of Wonders, a New York Times and Washington Post notable book, is set during the bubonic plague in 17th century England, while The Secret Chord is a narrative of the life of the biblical King David, and People of the Book is the story of a conservator tracing the history of the Haggadah across 500 years.
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| Horse Summary |
Horse Summary
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.
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Questions about Horse Plot
What happens to Jarrett in horse?
After emancipation, Jarret stays with the horse who belongs more truly to him (and he to the horse) than any White man who may have claimed to own either of them. It's a powerful story, and it touches the heart of both meanings of the word race.
What are the themes in horse by Geraldine Brooks?
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 art and science, love and obsession, the human-animal bond, the legacy of enslavement and the ongoing quest for racial justice.
Is Geraldine Brooks horse a true story?
Horse – by Geraldine Brooks – independent book review – Historical Fiction (United States) If I explain that HORSE recounts the true story of the most famous horse in 19th century United States history, I don't even begin to clue you in to the scope, brilliance, and emotional power of this novel.
How does horse by Brooks end?
The novel ends as Jess boards a plane back to her home country of Australia with Theo's dog Clancy in tow, and with the image of a dream in which Lexington runs across the Australian desert with his earliest known equine ancestors at his side.
What is the summary of horse?
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.
Is Jarrett in the book horse a real person?
I was unable to find any biographical detail on Jarret, so I created his character based on records I could find about two highly accomplished Black horsemen who, though enslaved, were in charge of Woodburn's thoroughbred operations: the trainer Ansel Williamson and the jockey and trainer Edward D. Brown.
Who is the main character in the book horse?
Jarrett (the main protagonist) – a young enslaved boy in the 1850s who has an uncanny, almost mystical connection with a colt in his care.
Who is Mary Barr in horse?
Several historical figures appear in the novel, among them the emancipationist newspaper publisher Cassius Clay and his daughter, the suffragist Mary Barr Clay.