Horse Heaven - Paperback

by Jane Smiley (Author)

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK - An "irresistible [and] beautifully braided tale" (The Wall Street Journal) that spans two years in the lives of thoroughbred breeders and trainers--and of the horses themselves--from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Thousand Acres

"[A] wise, spirited novel . . . Smiley plumbs the wondrously strange world of horse racing."--People

"[Smiley is] one of the premier novelists of her generation, possessed of a mystery of craft and an uncompromising vision."--The Washington Post

"It's not true," says a character in Jane Smiley's funny, passionate, and brilliant novel of horse racing, "that anything can happen at the racetrack," but many astonishing and affecting things do--and in Horse Heaven, we find them woven into a marvelous tapestry of joy and love, trickery, folly, greed, and heroism.

Millionaire owners risk more than money. Canny horsemen (and women) learn more than they bargained for. Young girls experience their first innocent love for the beautiful animals. And the horses--nervous or cocky, lucky or doomed--take the hapless, hopeful humans on one very wild ride.

Hailed by Salon as "a remarkable achievement," Horse Heaven is a sprawling masterpiece that revels in the desire and chance that is horse racing.

A LOS ANGELES TIMES BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR - FINALIST FOR THE ORANGE PRIZE

Front Jacket

#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK
"A WISE, SPIRITED NOVEL . . . [IN WHICH] SMILEY PLUMBS THE WONDROUSLY
STRANGE WORLD OF HORSE RACING." --People
"ONE OF THE PREMIER NOVELISTS OF HER GENERATION, possessed of a mastery
of craft and an uncompromising vision that grow more powerful with each
book . . . Racing's eclectic mix of classes and personalities provides
Smiley with fertile soil . . . Expertly juggling storylines, she
investigates the sexual, social, psychological, and spiritual problems
of wealthy owners, working-class bettors, trainers on the edge of
financial ruin, and, in a typically bold move, horses."
--The Washington Post
"A NOVEL OF PASSION IN EVERY SENSE . . . [SHE DOES] IT ALL WITH APLOMB .
. . WITH A DEMON NARRATIVE INTELLIGENCE."
--The Boston Sunday Globe
"WITTY, ENERGETIC . . . It's deeply satisfying to read a work of fiction
so informed about its subject and so alive to every nuance and detail .
. . [Smiley's] final chapters have a wonderful restorative quality."
--The New York Times Book Review

"RICHLY DETAILED, INGENIOUSLY CONSTRUCTED . . . YOU WILL REVEL IN JANE
SMILEY'S HORSE HEAVEN."
--San Diego Union-Tribune
Chosen by the Los Angeles Times as One of the Best Books of the Year

Author Biography

Jane Smiley is the author of nine previous works of fiction, including The Age of Grief, The Greenlanders, Ordinary Love & Good Will, A Thousand Acres (for which she was awarded the Pulitzer Prize), and Moo. She lives in northern California.