An exceptional, beloved horse connects strangers amidst the violence and heartbreak of World War I in this stunning novel from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Ride of Her Life.
Morocco, 1905: Six-year-old Beddou departs his mountain village to apprentice with a distant relation. His mother gives her only child six precious amber beads, promising they will help him find his way home. That same month, a magnificent filly is born in Fes, in the splendor of the Sultan’s palace. Boy and horse seem worlds apart until fate draws them together. The horse becomes everything to the lonely boy. He stitches her a red leather saddle, planning to ride home. But Beddou’s world shatters when his enigmatic mentor, Hassan, steals the horse and rides off to fight in the Great War in France.
France, 1914: Early in the war, Estelle, a young nurse, finds a distressed bay mare wearing a crimson saddle alone in the meadow behind her house. Captivated by her beauty, she cares for the mare until a Moroccan soldier claims her and rides off on her. Searching for the mare, Estelle ends up working at a hospital for injured warhorses alongside an English veterinarian. A strong connection grows between them, until the war tears them apart.
Two years later, Estelle tends to a gravely wounded soldier who cannot speak. Could this be the Moroccan horseman who stole away on her horse early in the war? In his pocket, she finds a letter in Arabic. Hoping for answers, she mails it. In another part of France, the Englishman finds the mare, beaten down and broken in spirit. Remembering Estelle’s love for the horse, he vows to care for it.
In Morocco, Beddou receives the letter. Armed only with his mother’s beads, he sets off on the journey for France. He knows just one thing: he must find his mare. He must bring her home.
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