“A beautiful, moving novel, cut from the American heartwood.†—Ursula K. Le Guin, author of Lavinia and The Unreal and the Real
“I read Falling from Horses in two gulps . . . I could not have loved it more.†— Karen Joy Fowler, author of The Jane Austen Bookclub and We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
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“Clear-eyed, breathtaking . . . A moving story filled with heart and insight.†— Gail Tsukiyama, author of The Samurai’s Garden
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“A hypnotic read.†— Kirkus Reviews
In 1938, nineteen-year-old ranch hand Bud Frazer sets out for Hollywood, his sights set on becoming a stunt rider in the movies—and rubbing shoulders with the great screen cowboys of his youth. On the long bus ride south from Echol Creek, Bud meets a young woman who also harbors dreams of making it in the movies, not as a starlet but as a writer. Lily Shaw is bold and outspoken, more confident than her small frame and bookish looks seem to allow. The two strike up an unlikely kinship that will carry them through their tumultuous days in Hollywood. Through the wide eyes and lofty dreams of two people trying to make their mark on the world, Molly Gloss weaves a remarkable tale of humans and horses, hope and heartbreak, told by one of the most winning narrators ever to walk off the page.