By Catherine Ryan Hyde
⭐⭐⭐⭐ ¼ (Goodreads: 4.23)
GENRE: Drama
PART OF A SERIES? No
WORTH READING? Yes
SUMMARY:
Jackie and Paula move to a small town with their adopted son and two teenaged foster children, including the troubled Star. It isn’t long before their family clashes with Clementine, the cantankerous lady across the road. Clementine makes her disapproval of Jackie and Paula’s lifestyle quite clear and despises it when Star befriends her daughter’s horse. When Star disappears with the horse, both families must learn to put aside their differences and face the scars they carry.
Opening line: 'We were more than halfway to this new town whose name I’d forgotten… and something was brewing in the back of the van.'
In The Language of Hoofbeats, Catherine Ryan Hyde explores many themes, including family dynamics, mental illness and suicide, and same-sex relationships. She also looks at the foster family system in the U.S.A, addressing just a couple of the reasons why children may end up in this system.
Catherine Ryan Hyde always writes such wonderfully multi-layered characters, all with their own distinct voices. She shows us perfectly how the characters see the world, and most importantly, how they feel. We particularly get insight into Star, Clementine and Jackie in The Language of Hoofbeats.
Hyde’s stories are generally quite simple tales (I’m not meaning this in a disparaging way), which I think helps make her books incredibly easy to read. Hyde weaves beautiful yarns that always consider the depths of the human spirit. When I think of Catherine Ryan Hyde, the word ‘poignant’ is one of the first descriptors that comes to mind.
The Language of Hoofbeats was a most enjoyable read. I have never once failed to gain pleasure from a reading session with Catherine Ryan Hyde.
Click here to purchase The Language of Hoofbeats
If you’d like to try any of the other beautiful Catherine Ryan Hyde’s that I recommend:
Click here to purchase So Long, Chester Wheeler
Click here to purchase the paperback of Pay it Forward
Click here to purchase the paperback of Ask Him Why
Click here to purchase the paperback of Have You Seen Luis Velez
Click here to purchase the paperback of Brave Girl, Quiet Girl
Click here to purchase the paperback of Dreaming of Flight
Click here to purchase the paperback of Where We Belong
If I had to pick my favourites of Catherine Ryan Hyde’s, they would be Pay it Forward and Have You Seen Luis Velez?
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