Gabriel’s Horses
Gabriel’s Horses begins in 1864 with twelve-year-old Gabriel hoping to one day become a famous horse jockey. Although he is the son of a free black father, his mother is a slave. This automatically makes Gabriel a slave, but life includes some joy as well. Gabriel loves to help his father care for the thoroughbred racehorses on Master Giles’s farm.
But the violence of war disrupts the familiar routine of daily life on the farm. “One Arm Dan” and his band of Confederate raiders threaten area farms and steal horses.
Gabriel’s father enlists in the Union Army to earn the money to buy his wife’s freedom. Though worried, Gabriel takes pride in his father’s enlisting as well.
But the absence of his father brings the arrival of Mr. Newcastle, a white horse trainer with harsh, cruel methods for handling horses – and people. Now it is up to Gabriel to protect the horses he loves from Mr. Newcastle. Moreover, he must keep them safely out of the clutches of “One Arm Dan” and his men.
- Author Alison-Hart’s words jump off the page and create a page-turner worthy of a second read.
