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Usually ships in 1 business days | | | Gloss's austere latest (after Wild Life) features a wandering taciturn tomboy who finds her place in rural Oregon while the men are away at war. After she leaves home in 1917, 19-year-old Martha Lessen plans to travel from farm to farm in Elwha County, Oregon, breaking horses left behind by owners away fighting. She winds up in small town Shelby, where farmers George and Louise Bliss convince her to stay the winter with them after she domesticates their broncos with soft words and songs instead of lariats and hobbles. While breaking the town's horses, Martha meets a slovenly drunk, a clan of Western European immigrants and two unmarried sisters running a ranch with the help of an awkward, secretive teenager. When Martha's not making the rounds or riding through the Clarks Range, Louise tries her hand at socializing (or, perhaps, breaking) her, but Martha chafes at town dances, social outings and Louise's hand-me-down church dresses. Gloss's narrative is sometimes as slow as Martha's progress with the more recalcitrant beasts, but following stubborn, uncompromising Martha as she goes about her work provides its own unique pleasures. (Nov.)
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| | Product Details | | Author: | Molly Gloss | | Hardcover: | 304 pages | | Publisher: | Houghton Mifflin | | Publication Date: | November 06, 2007 | | ISBN: | 0618799907 | | Package Length: | 8.3 inches | | Package Width: | 5.8 inches | | Package Height: | 1.1 inches | | Package Weight: | 0.9 pounds | | Average Customer Rating: |  based on 27 reviews |
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0 of 2 found the following review helpful:
 Not about horses! Jun 17, 2008
I bought this book thinking it would be about working with horses. What a boring, disappointing book. It had very little to do about horses or working with them.
 wonderful book Jun 15, 2008
This book held my interest all the way through, but non-horse people might feel it dragged. I was totally unaware of the history of young women who were employed as horse breakers or trainers.
Even though her methods were unorthodox then, it seems only common sense that her methods would be more effective, and possibly just as quick in the long run.
I love horses, and even though I'm not as knowledgeable as I would like, It breaks my heart to hear of cruel training methods. Martha is an amazing character.
I want to read more of Gloss's books.
Outstanding character-driven novel Jun 07, 2008
When I was a kid I read every horse story in print and I remember especially Black Beauty (of course) and the books of Will James. Hearts of Horses is the same kind of book. The language is as simple as a pair of leather chaps, and the lead character of Martha is as quiet and soft-spoken, determined and brave, as any character Jimmy Stewart ever played--and almost as tall. It's a Western, but not a bang-bang shoot-em-up Western. It's about a young woman (though she's constantly and a little annoyingly always referred to as a girl) who asks for no special treatment, intrudes on no one, and makes her own way by doing what she does best--gentling and training horses. The author writes with the same quiet authority with which Martha trains her horses. It's a wonderful book.
...Ruth Sims/author of The Phoenix
Hearts of Horses May 28, 2008
This book was enjoyable, it is more what I had expected from the book The Horse Whisperer actually (which I was very disappointed in). Just enough historical data so the reader has an idea what the world was like, enough character information to make them feel like neighbors.
Ride through history May 15, 2008
I enjoyed this book from cover to cover. The story is well rounded and easily takes you back to the way things were during the early 19th century, an unusual main character, cultural norms and prejudices of the time all flow together naturally and weave a delightful story anyone would enjoy. Not just for horse lovers. I wish it were longer! I hate saying goodbye to the characters I've come to know in a good story. Highly recommended.
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