In her fascinating afterword, Brooks explains that she was inspired to create Jarrett after reading about a missing painting by equestrian artist T.J. But while the historic detail in the book is impressive, it’s the fictions filling in the blanks where Brooks’s genius truly shines.Īrguably the central character is Jarrett, the enslaved groom who raised Darley from a foal and risks his own life more than once to protect the horse. It’s a technique that has served Brooks well she earned a Pulitzer Prize for March, which follows the fictional father in Little Women, based in part on the real-life Bronson Alcott. Lexington is one of several characters in the book-the rest of them human-based on real-life figures, as Horse is a product of careful research fleshed out with vivid imagination. But first and foremost, Horse is a thrilling story about humanity in all its ugliness and beauty. Yes, the title character is one of history’s most famous equine celebrities, a foal named Darley, who later became a pop culture phenomenon called Lexington-and was revered as the fastest horse in the world. Don’t let the title fool you Geraldine Brooks’s Horse is not Black Beauty for grown-ups.
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