Velveteen Vargas is eleven years old, a Fresh Air Fund kid from Brooklyn. Her host family is a couple in upstate New York: Ginger, a failed artist and shakily recovered alcoholic, and her academic husband, Paul, who wonder what it will mean to ?make a difference? in such a contrived situation. Gaitskill illuminates their shifting relationship with Velvet over several years, as well as Velvet?s encounter with the horses at the stable down the road?especially...

"For thousands of years one animal has contributed to human survival more than any other. It has been a source of food, a means of transportation, a provider of physical labor and an instrument of war. This extraordinary creature is the horse. Throughout human history people have loved, owned and ridden horses. Horses fascinate us; they silently speak to our hearts. Young and old, rich or poor we are drawn; whether to books like The Horse Whisperer,...

"A horse trainer gives up her career to travel the world in search of those who have somehow unlocked the secret of moving to the next level of understanding horses. What she finds is simple, eloquent and powerful, but is she willing to pay the price to take the path less traveled?"- - (back cover)

"London's daring new equestrienne finds love and an unexpected ally in her fight for independence in the strong arms of Victorian society's most sought after and devastatingly handsome half-Indian tailor. Evelyn Maltravers knows exactly how little she's worth on the marriage mart. As an incurable bluestocking from a family tumbling swiftly toward ruin, she knows she'll never make a match in a ballroom. Her only hope is to distinguish herself by making...