The Truth about Horses
Christy Cashman
(Author)
21,000+ Reviews
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Description
A brave 14-year-old girl races against time to save her horse, her farm, and her relationship with her father while honoring her mother's memory. Winner of the 2024 IBPA Benjamin Franklin Gold Award for General Fiction and Silver Awards for Best New Voice and Teen Fiction, this best-selling debut novel weaves a spellbinding tale in which everyone has magical powers within them just waiting to be discovered. REESE TUCKER'S family lives a simple, hardworking existence on their farm in Birdwood, South Dakota. Their love for the horses they raise and train is the only thing that keeps their business afloat. But their fortunes could change if they find a horse special enough to win the Black Elk race. Reese's mom believes that horse is Trusted Treasure. But two connected tragedies set Reese's world spinning. Just when victory is mere feet away, Trusted Treasure takes a fall at the Black Elk finish line. While still reeling from that loss, the family is given hope when, during a drive, they encounter a near-mystical herd of wild horses led by a mysterious black stallion. But just when they've begun to dream again, the drive ends in a disaster that results in the sale of the family business and their beloved horse, Trusted Treasure, decisions for which fourteen-year old Reese may never forgive her father. Heartbroken and still longing for the life she loved, Reese meets Wes, a stranger who's just come to town. His way of training horses is unlike anything she's ever seen. If anyone can win the Black Elk, it's him--but he's struggling with his own troubled past. Amid heartaches and triumphs, Reese must prove her worth, heal her fractured family, help a new friend with a troubled past, and show everyone that some dreams are worth fighting for. As she struggles to do all this she discovers that even in the darkest of times, love and resilience can light the way. The Truth About Horses will have you laughing and crying--sometimes on the same page--all the while rooting for Reese, the most unlikely of heroes.
Product Details
Price
$17.95
$16.69
Publisher
Sparkpress
Publish Date
August 15, 2023
Pages
392
Dimensions
5.5 X 8.4 X 1.3 inches | 1.15 pounds
Language
English
Type
Paperback
EAN/UPC
9781684632121
BISAC Categories:
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About the Author
Christy Cashman is an American author, actress, and producer who has appeared in more than twenty films, including Kettle of Fish, The Love Guide, American Hustle, Joy, The Descendants, Ted 2, The Women, The Golden Boys, and The Forger. She has also written two children's books set in Ireland: The Not-So-Average Monkey of Kilkea Castle and Petri's Next Things. The Truth About Horses is her first novel. Christy lives with her husband, Jay; two sons, Jay Michael and Quinn; their three dogs, Ben, Dan, and Violet; and three horses, Calvin, Butterscotch, and Victor. When Christy is not writing or working on production projects, she is most likely riding her horses or spending time with her dogs. The family divides their time between Kilkea Castle in Ireland and their homes in Chatham and Boston, Massachusetts.
Reviews
2024 IBPA Benjamin Franklin Awards Gold Winner in Fiction: General
2024 IBPA Benjamin Franklin Awards Silver Winner in Teen: Fiction (13-18 Years) and Best New Voice: Fiction "What an irresistibly readable novel Christy Cashman has written! Her young heroine Reese is an astonishing creation, warmly sympathetic, impulsive, unpredictable, brash, loyal and loving, endearing, exasperating, most of all memorable-a triumphant portrait of tumultuous adolescence in our time. The Truth About Horses plunges us into a beautifully evoked rural world in which horses are both magnificent beasts requiring human love and devotion, and iconic creatures out of mythology."
--Joyce Carol Oates, American novelist, short story writer, and essayist
"From its first gripping pages, this beautifully written, vividly imagined novel had me hooked. Anyone who remembers being a teen, loving horses, or losing a loved one will find deep meaning in this book."
--Sy Montgomery, New York Times best-selling author of How to Be a Good Creature and The Soul of an Octopus "With all of the unpredictable thrill of a horseback ride, The Truth About Horses took me deep into the mind of a teenage girl searching for her post-traumatic truth. It is a beautiful, moving story that I'm glad to know and certain to remember."
--Harry Connick Jr., Emmy Award-winning actor and Grammy Award-winning musician
"This is a heartwarming novel about facing down the perils of adversity. It's also an examination of how and why we become stronger at the broken places. Christy Cashman has written a book for everyone, young and old, who wants to know about the elemental gallop of the heart."
--Colum McCann, author of Apeirogon and Let the Great World Spin
"Original, deftly crafted, brilliant, and a compelling page-turner of a read from start to finish, The Truth About Horses showcases author Christy Cashman's genuine flair for the kind of memorable narrative storytelling style that keeps young readers riveted from beginning to end."
--Midwest Book Review "The Truth About Horses had me hooked on page one. I set aside everything else and just kept reading, sleep be damned. It is a timeless story about growing up in a world that is less than perfect and trying to figure out who you are through all of those challenges--something each of us faces at some point. Reese's strength, wit, wisdom, and vulnerability offer up a multi-faceted character and a person I would like to know. The novel is a tour de force."
--Judith Laster, Festival Director, The Woods Hole Film Festival "In Christy Cashman's first novel The Truth About Horses, the author proves herself to be a worthy successor to Harper Lee. Cashman's protagonist, Reese, instantly captures the reader in the same way that Scout does in To Kill a Mockingbird--and takes the reader with her into her world for a magical examination of the human heart."
--Arthur T. Vanderbilt II, author of Fortune's Children: The Fall of the House of Vanderbilt "The truth about The Truth About Horses is that it is impossible to put down. With simple ingredients of hay and humor, family and fury, Christy Cashman has spun an unstoppable feast. She shows us how hooves and hearts beat the same truth to light and reminds us laughter and tears need not be served as separate courses."
--Sally Taylor, singer, songwriter, and founder of Consenses "Christy Cashman has written a beautiful, thrilling tale about a teenaged girl's journey from fear to cou
2024 IBPA Benjamin Franklin Awards Silver Winner in Teen: Fiction (13-18 Years) and Best New Voice: Fiction "What an irresistibly readable novel Christy Cashman has written! Her young heroine Reese is an astonishing creation, warmly sympathetic, impulsive, unpredictable, brash, loyal and loving, endearing, exasperating, most of all memorable-a triumphant portrait of tumultuous adolescence in our time. The Truth About Horses plunges us into a beautifully evoked rural world in which horses are both magnificent beasts requiring human love and devotion, and iconic creatures out of mythology."
--Joyce Carol Oates, American novelist, short story writer, and essayist
"From its first gripping pages, this beautifully written, vividly imagined novel had me hooked. Anyone who remembers being a teen, loving horses, or losing a loved one will find deep meaning in this book."
--Sy Montgomery, New York Times best-selling author of How to Be a Good Creature and The Soul of an Octopus "With all of the unpredictable thrill of a horseback ride, The Truth About Horses took me deep into the mind of a teenage girl searching for her post-traumatic truth. It is a beautiful, moving story that I'm glad to know and certain to remember."
--Harry Connick Jr., Emmy Award-winning actor and Grammy Award-winning musician
"This is a heartwarming novel about facing down the perils of adversity. It's also an examination of how and why we become stronger at the broken places. Christy Cashman has written a book for everyone, young and old, who wants to know about the elemental gallop of the heart."
--Colum McCann, author of Apeirogon and Let the Great World Spin
"Original, deftly crafted, brilliant, and a compelling page-turner of a read from start to finish, The Truth About Horses showcases author Christy Cashman's genuine flair for the kind of memorable narrative storytelling style that keeps young readers riveted from beginning to end."
--Midwest Book Review "The Truth About Horses had me hooked on page one. I set aside everything else and just kept reading, sleep be damned. It is a timeless story about growing up in a world that is less than perfect and trying to figure out who you are through all of those challenges--something each of us faces at some point. Reese's strength, wit, wisdom, and vulnerability offer up a multi-faceted character and a person I would like to know. The novel is a tour de force."
--Judith Laster, Festival Director, The Woods Hole Film Festival "In Christy Cashman's first novel The Truth About Horses, the author proves herself to be a worthy successor to Harper Lee. Cashman's protagonist, Reese, instantly captures the reader in the same way that Scout does in To Kill a Mockingbird--and takes the reader with her into her world for a magical examination of the human heart."
--Arthur T. Vanderbilt II, author of Fortune's Children: The Fall of the House of Vanderbilt "The truth about The Truth About Horses is that it is impossible to put down. With simple ingredients of hay and humor, family and fury, Christy Cashman has spun an unstoppable feast. She shows us how hooves and hearts beat the same truth to light and reminds us laughter and tears need not be served as separate courses."
--Sally Taylor, singer, songwriter, and founder of Consenses "Christy Cashman has written a beautiful, thrilling tale about a teenaged girl's journey from fear to cou
