Horse

The latest historical novel from Brooks (The Secret Chord) centers around horse racing in the Civil War era. The first part of the story is set in the present, where a Nigerian American art historian and a scientist working at the Smithsonian are drawn together by a horse’s skeleton and a painting discovered in the trash. Then the narrative goes back in time to the 1800s, where an enslaved groom named Jarret works as a trainer of race horses. The tension builds slowly, then ends with a surprising and memorable tragedy. The characters are believable and appealing; listeners will see how racism impacts the lives of people in different ways and in different time periods. The five separate voice actors—Graham Halstead, Lisa Flanagan, James Fouhey, Michael Obiora, and Katherine Cittrell—are skilled at using accents and dialect to add life and excitement to the narrative.