A chance conversation and years of research culminated in Pulitzer-prize winning author Brooks’s stellar reimagining of the life and times of Lexington, America’s greatest stud sire and champion thoroughbred, and the (real and fictional) characters that surrounded him. We meet the likes of painter Thomas J. Scott, horseracing mogul Richard Ten Broeck, trainer Harry Lewis, and Lexington’s groom, Jarrett. Lexington’s ‘then’ is expertly interwoven with the ‘now’ of scientist Jess and PhD candidate Theo: characters brought together by Jess’s ‘discovery’ of Lexington’s articulated skeleton in a dusty museum attic and Theo’s unexpected find of a discarded Scott painting. Horse is a fascinating, evocative read; a story that will linger on many levels.
Reviewed by Donnay Torr.
