About the Author

Geraldine Brooks is the author of the novels The Secret Chord, Caleb's Crossing, People of the Book, March (which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2006) and Year of Wonders, recently optioned by Olivia Colman. She has also written three works of non-fiction, including Nine Parts of Desire, based on her experiences among Muslim women in the Middle East. She now lives on Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts with two sons.

Reviews

Everyone should read Geraldine Brooks * Guardian *
I loved this book so much - an important book, gorgeous, full of love . . . a super smart book that will keep you up all night -- Ann Patchett
In telling the story of an antebellum racehorse, Geraldine Brooks balances two compelling timelines and explores the rotten legacy of American slavery... It richly transcends the category of 'for horse lovers' -- Maggie Shipstead, Books of the Year * Guardian *
One of our most supple and insightful novelists . . . Brooks is as adventurous as a novelist as she once was a journalist . . . her journalistic sense of story has remained vibrant. -- Jane Smiley * The New York Times Book Review *
Brilliantly varied and with a galloping pace * Mail on Sunday *
A confident novel of racing and race... with tender precision, Horse shows us history in flux... the book returns Brooks to the terrain that won her a Pulitzer Prize... She brings the same archival confidence and sensory flair to the antebellum racetrack * Guardian *
This is historical fiction at its finest, connecting threads of the past with the present to illuminate that essentially human something . . . Calling all horse girls: This is the story of the most important racehorse you've never heard of, but it's also so much more than that. * Good Housekeeping *
Brooks is a master at bringing the past alive . . . in [her] skillful hands the issues of the past echo our own deepest concerns: love and loss, drama and tragedy, chaos and brutality. -- Alice Hoffman * Washington Post *
There's something bordering on the supernatural about Geraldine Brooks. She seems able to transport herself back to earlier time periods, to time travel. Sometimes, reading her work, she draws you so thoroughly into another era that you swear she's actually lived in it. -- Matthew Gilbert * The Boston Globe *
Thrilling . . . a book about the power and pain of words -- Alexandra Jacobs * New York Times *
Horse isn't just an animal story - it's a moving narrative about race and art * Time *
Few fiction writers travel across territory as vast as that staked out by the intrepid Geraldine Brooks . . . There's a romance between Brooks and the world, and her writing is as full of heart and curiosity as it is intelligence and judgement . . . her appetite for detail, her wanting to know how things work and why they happened, is enormous. -- Carrie Brown * The Boston Globe *
The wonderful story of an extraordinary real-life racehorse... Brooks moves seamlessly between different times and places... the attention to historical details is impressive * Racing Post *
Reveals the truth behind the spirit, obsession and injustice across American history * The Handbook *
This deft novel moves between the present day and the Civil War era in a polyphonic examination of the fraught racial aspects of horse racing in US history * New Yorker *
Brooks understands and empathises with all of her characters, and it is suspenseful and thoughtful - a masterpiece * Jane Smiley *
Thrilling... Brooks has an almost clairvoyant ability to conjure up the textures of the past and of each character's inner life... Her felicitous, economical style and flawless pacing carries us briskly yet unhurriedly along... And the novel's alternating narratives, by suspending time, also intensify suspense * Wall Street Journal *
Brooks is an accomplished writer... [She] has a talent and passion for research that is fully expressed here... The descriptions of 19th-century horse racing are thrilling * Atlantic *
A thrilling story about humanity in all its ugliness and beauty... The care with which Brooks crafts each character's voice is a plea to look past the categorical labels and legends with which we describe each other, to truly see the individual. Paired with a compelling plot, the evocative voices create a story so powerful, reading it feels like watching a neck-and-neck race, galloping to its conclusion - you just can't look away * Oprah Daily *
A sweeping tale... fluid, masterful storytelling... Brooks writes about our present in such a way that the tangled roots of history, just beneath the story, are both subtle and undeniable... Horse is a reminder of the simple, primal power an author can summon by creating characters readers care about and telling a story about them * Washington Post *
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 demonstrates imaginative empathy [...] and provides some sardonic correctives to White cluelessness... Strong storytelling in service of a stinging moral message * Kirkus *
You 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 * Lit Hub *
A fascinating saga based on the true story of a famous 19th-century racehorse * Publishers Weekly *
Brooks probes our understanding of history to reveal the power structures that create both the facts and the fiction... She has penned a clever and richly detailed novel about how we commodify, commemorate, and quantify winning in the United States, all through the lens of horse racing * Library Journal *
Marvellous... Brooks structures the book like a mystery... Equestrian or no, readers will appreciate Brooks's invitation to linger awhile among beautiful and graceful horses, to see the devotion they engendered in her characters * Shelf Awareness *
With exceptional characterizations, Pulitzer Prize-winner Brooks tells an emotionally impactful tale... The settings are pitch-perfect, and the story brings to life the important roles filled by Black horsemen in America's past * Booklist *