How are all these parallel lives woven into the rich tapestry of this novel? The story begins in 2019,when Theo Northam,a PhD art history student,picks up an old oil painting of a racehorse from his neighbour’s rubbish pile. The woman,whose husband has recently died,provides an early sign of the discomforting undertow ofHorse,as the Nigerian-born Theo,son of two diplomats,reflects on how the couple were made uncomfortable by the presence of a “black” man in their neighbourhood.
The short chapter leads us to Jess,an Australian-born osteologist with the Smithsonian Institute,who is asked by her director if she can locate the skeleton of a racehorse that an English academic is flying over to look at. Then,quicker than a five-furlong dash,we’re back in Kentucky in 1850,and the young slave known as Wakefield’s Jarret – his name changing throughout the book until he finally becomes himself,Jarret Lewis– is in charge of Dr Wakefield’s most temperamental mare,Alice Carneal,who is about to give birth to the bay foal that will rewrite the racing record books.
With some of the main characters now gathered up – Jarret’s father,a slave who has managed to buy his freedom from Dr Wakefield;the doctor’s daughter,whose interest in horses is as great as her father’s;and a host of other true historical figures such as painter Thomas J Scottand Richard Ten Broeck,owner of a massive racing operation – the book is off at a gallop. Later in the novel,other characters appear,including art dealer Martha Jackson (with artist Jackson Pollock making a guest appearance,painting what seems to be Blue Poles).
This is a bold book,and one in which Brooks explores some familiar territory,particularly the cultural divide between white and Native Americans seen inCaleb’s Crossing,inevitably raising the complex subject of cultural appropriation.
As a white female writer in her 60s,Brooks’ two main subjects are imagined young black males,one from a disadvantaged background whose lifelong struggle is to become a free man,one from a wealthy,privileged background who has come to live in America with what will transpire to be a devastating lack of understanding of what it can mean to be black in that country.
However,while Brooks’ imagination fleshes out all her characters so that it is easy to fall into their worlds,it is perhaps because of the number of stories in the book the human relationships sometimes felt a little under-developed.