Horse
by Geraldine Brooks (Hachette, $37.99)
Growing up with a father who liked the odd flutter put me off horse racing. So I came to this novel by Pulitzer Prize-winning Australian/American author Geraldine Brooks with unkind thoughts. But how wrong was I? Yes, the lightning rod is Lexington, the real and extraordinary late 19th century Kentucky bay stallion, revered as the fastest horse in the world, but this hefty novel is about so much more: there’s art, history, the ugliness and beauty of humanity and the rocky terrain of race.
