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Horse Heaven
Jane Smiley
In Horse Heaven' the universe of horse racing is woven into a marvellous tapestry of joy and love, chicanery, folly, greed and reckless courage. Spanning two years on the circuit, from Kentucky and California to New York and Paris, Jane Smiley's wonderful novel puts us among trainers and track brats, horse-obsessed girls, nervy jockeys, billionaire breeders and restless track wives.
"The world of horse-racing has never been portrayed to such spellbinding effect."
That quote from the Tatler' review illustrates the depth and breadth of this fascinating novel and explains why it is regarded as one of the great horse books of all time.
A rich tapestry of human and animal characters, Booklist' described it as "a symphonic celebration of the byzantine world of thoroughbred horse racing, an electrifying and at times melodramatic tale of two years on the thoroughbred racing circuit with a wealth of intimate knowledge about horse breeding, training and racing, not to mention sensuous description and supple human and equine psychology."
In following the racing careers of five thoroughbreds, the novel encompasses all the thrills, heartaches and excitement of horse racing at the highest level. The horses are the stars but are supported by a myriad of fascinating human characters: owners, trainers, stud farm managers, jockeys, vets, grooms and gamblers. There are as many intriguing stories in this work as there are in a rich human life and are woven together brilliantly in a breathtakingly sustained piece of writing. Readers are kept exhilarated right up to the finishing line.
The Financial Times' concluding its review says: "You will never regret having read this book and you will, even if you care nothing for horses, begin to understand why those who live by and for them, do so."
A fitting tribute to a literary masterpiece.
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The Author
Jane Smiley was born in Los Angeles, California, moved to the suburbs of St. Louis, Missouri, as an infant, and lived there through grammar school and high school (The John Burroughs School). After getting her BA at Vessar College in 1971, she travelled in Europe for a year, working on an archeological dig and sightseeing, and then returned to Iowa for graduate school at the University of Iowa.
Having received her MFA and PhD, she went to work in 1981 at Iowa State University, where she taught until 1996.
Jane has written eleven works of fiction, including The Age of Grief', The Greenlanders', Ordinary Love and Good Will', A Thousand Acres', which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1992, Moo', Good Earth', Ten Days in the Hills', and Horse Heaven.'
She also wrote essays for Vogue', The New Yorker', Practical Horseman', Harpers', The New York Times Magazine', Victoria', Mirabella', Allure', The Nation' and many others.
She has written on politics, farming, horse training, child-rearing, literature, impulse buying, getting dressed, Barbie, marriage and other topics. She is also the author of four books of nonfiction, including A Year at the Races', Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Novel', and from Penguin Lives Series, a biography of Charles Dickens.
Jane was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2001. In December, 2006 she received the Pen USA Lifetime Achievement Award for Literature. Her latest novel, Private Life' was published by Random House in May 2010.
She has two daughters and one son, and lives in Northern California.
