The Horse Whisperer (novel)

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The Horse Whisperer (novel)

Overview
The Horse Whisperer is a 1995 debut novel by English author Nicholas Evans. It became a huge success, selling more than 15 million copies and becoming one of the best-selling books of all time. In 2003 it was listed at number 195 in the BBC’s The Big Read poll of the nation’s favorite novels.

Summary
The story starts in upstate New York with Grace Maclean, her friend Judith, and their horses Pilgrim and Gulliver. On a snowy day, Gulliver slips, the horses crash, and both girls are dragged into a road where a truck hits them. Judith and Gulliver die; Grace is badly injured and loses part of her right leg. Grace’s mother Annie is a magazine editor, and her father Robert is a lawyer. The accident strains the family.

Pilgrim becomes traumatized and hard to handle. Annie refuses to have the horse put down and hears about a horse whisperer named Tom Booker. She takes Grace and Pilgrim on a long journey to Montana to find Tom.

In Montana, Tom works with Pilgrim and starts to make progress. Grace and Annie grow happier, and Grace gradually reconnects with riding. Tom and Annie begin an affair. Tom’s methods are intense; at one point he makes Pilgrim lie down and has Grace stand on him, a risky move that helps Grace ride again.

At a party marking the end of their stay, Grace learns about the affair. She rides off and becomes caught up in a stampede of wild mustangs. Tom saves Grace and Pilgrim, but is fatally trampled by the stallion, possibly feeling guilty about the affair.

Grace, Annie, and Pilgrim return to New York to rebuild their lives with Robert. Annie later discovers she is pregnant.

Characters
- Grace Maclean — Grace’s daughter, severely injured in the accident.
- Annie Graves — Grace’s mother, who arranges the trip and has an affair with Tom.
- Robert Maclean — Grace’s father.
- Tom Booker — The horse whisperer.
- Pilgrim — Grace’s Morgan horse.
- Judith — Grace’s best friend, owner of Gulliver.

Inspiration
Author Nicholas Evans says Tom Booker was inspired by real horse whisperers Tom Dorrance, Ray Hunt, and especially Buck Brannaman, who Evans called the “Zen master of the horse world.”

Film adaptation
Robert Redford bought the film rights and directed The Horse Whisperer (1998), with Redford playing Tom Booker and Scarlett Johansson as Grace. The film stays mostly faithful to the book but omits Grace’s confrontation with the herd of mustangs and Tom’s death. It also does not depict the affair between Annie and Tom; in the film Annie leaves the ranch with Pilgrim while Booker watches from a hill.

See also
John Solomon Rarey, an early horse whisperer whose techniques influenced the book.