Christy Cashman at Harvard Book Store

Harvard Book Store welcomes CHRISTY CASHMAN—author of The Not-So-Average Monkey of Kilkea Castle and Petri’s Next Things—to discuss her debut Young Adult novel The Truth About Horses. She will be joined in conversation by Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning actress JANE SEYMOUR.

About The Truth About Horses

Fourteen-year-old Reese’s dream of winning the Black Elk race is shattered when her beloved horse, Trusted Treasure, falls at the last jump and the vet suggests they put him down. While still reeling from that loss, her family suffers a second tragedy—one that results in the end of their family business, the sale of Trusted Treasure, and irreparable damage to Reese’s relationship with her father.

Heartbroken and still longing to find Trusted Treasure, Reese meets Wes, a selective mute, whose way of training horses is unlike anything she’s ever seen. If anyone can win the Black Elk, it’s Wes—but he’s struggling with his troubled past, and having a teenage girl hanging around his barn isn’t exactly what he’d planned. Through heartaches and triumphs, Reese must prove her worth if she wants to heal her family, help Wes, and show them all that some dreams are worth fighting for.

A spellbinding tale in which every teenager has magical powers within them just waiting to be discovered, this book will have you laughing and crying—sometimes on the same page—all the while rooting for Reese, the most unlikely of heroes.

Praise for The Truth About Horses

“What an irresistibly readable novel Christy Cashman has written! Her young heroine Reese is an astonishing creation, warmly sympathetic, impulsive, unpredictable, brash, loyal and loving, endearing, exasperating, most of all memorable—a triumphant portrait of tumultuous adolescence in our time. The Truth About Horses plunges us into a beautifully evoked rural world in which horses are both magnificent beasts requiring human love and devotion, and iconic creatures out of mythology.” —Joyce Carol Oates

“From its first gripping pages, this beautifully written, vividly imagined novel had me hooked. Anyone who remembers being a teen, loving horses, or losing a loved one will find deep meaning in this book.” —Sy Montgomery, New York Times best-selling author of How to Be a Good Creature

“The Truth About Horses is a fast-moving, emotionally compelling story about friendship, courage, and healing. Christy Cashman knows a lot about girls and horses, and also about loneliness and grief, and she writes with admirable honesty and insight.” —Tom Perrotta, author of Tracy Flick Can’t Win

Mask Policy

Masks are encouraged but not required for this event.