"Exciting character study"
Eighteen year old Olympic hopeful, Annemarie Zimmer and
her beloved steed Highland Harry run the equestrian course
so effortlessly they seem more like a centaur. As they
finish the last jump Annemarie senses something is wrong.
Three weeks later, a physically broken Annemarie learns
that a bone in Harry's hoof shattered leading to Harry
humanely shot dead right there. Annemarie recovers from a
broken neck and other major injuries with only the drugs
keeping her out of depression. Twenty years later, Annemarie has lived in Minnesota so
she will not be pushed to ride for Harry was
her "significant other". She loses her job documenting
software, her spouse Roger leaves her, and she learns that
her father is dying from Lou Gehrig's disease. Though
returning to the family's New Hampshire Maple Brook Riding
Academy means reliving her nightmare Annemarie knows she
must as she was her dad's greatest hope and his greatest
disappointment. Accompanied by her obdurate know it all
teenage daughter she needs to see her dad before he dies.
However, the shocker at home is the striped horse that
looks like the reincarnation of Harry. RIDING LESSONS is an exciting character study that uses
the equestrian world as a backdrop to a family drama. The
vivid story line focuses on the trials and tribulations of
Annemarie, a world caliber athlete in hiding from life,
her family, and her sport until three strikes make her
return to the fold. The secondary cast including her
recalcitrant daughter, other family members, the vet she
loved as a teen, an attractive trainer, and of course the
striped horse provide insight into the heroine who remains
the center of a powerful tale of redemption. Harriet Klausner
Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted March 15, 2004
SummaryA stunning new voice in American fiction, Sara Gruen makes
a masterful debut with a novel of family, tragedy,
rebirth ... and the breathtaking love of something wild.
As a world-class equestrienne and Olympic contender,
Annemarie Zimmer lived for the thrill of flight atop a
strong, graceful animal. Then, at eighteen, a tragic
accident destroyed her riding career and Harry, her beloved
and distinctively marked horse.
Now, twenty years later, Annemarie is coming home to her
dying father's New Hampshire horse farm. Jobless and
abandoned, she is bringing her troubled teenaged daughter
to this place of pain and memory, where ghosts of an
unresolved youth still haunt the fields and stables -- and
where hope lives in the eyes of the handsome, gentle
veterinarian Annemarie loved as a girl ... and in the
seductive allure of a trainer with a magic touch.
But everything will change yet again with one glimpse of a
red and white striped gelding startlingly similar to the
one Annemarie lost in another lifetime. And an obsession is
born that could shatter her fragile world.
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