When good characterization and excellent plotting mix, the readers gain a Catherine Ryan Hyde book like The Language of Hoofbeats. I am still in awe of how the author brought to together in perfection all the loose ends and the character arc, even those of Star and Clementine, the more disturbed of all the other characters.

Although a bit on the original side, the story is about what makes a family and a community. The book begins with two women Jackie (a painter) and Paula (a veterinarian and an animal lover) who are legally married to each other, and who, having experienced negative input of their relationship, move to a small village in California with their adopted son Quinn and their two foster children, Star and Mando. Star is the latest addition to the family and Mando resents her for creating havoc in the otherwise well-adjusted family.

Their next-door neighbor Clementine and her husband have a horse named Comet that used to belong to their now-dead daughter. Star forms a relationship with the high-strung Comet and seems to understand the horse’s frustration at the lack of care by his present owners; however, Clementine resents Star and chases her away from her property numerous times. Clementine is not only nasty to star but to her mothers Jackie and Paula, too. When Star steals Comet and they are both lost, the real action in the story commences. The rest, what happens to Mando, Star, Comet, and the other characters, readers have to read the book to find out.

As to the characters, Clementine and Jackie are the two narrators of the story, each taking an alternating chapter to tell their side of the events. Clementine is a poor soul who is terribly damaged by her daughter’s suicide and her husband’s deserting her since he couldn’t take her anymore. The other people in the story are unique and carefully developed, including the secondary characters, and they are all portrayed with utmost care. Not just the characters but the important issues like the police, the judicial system, adoption, foster care, lesbianism, racism, mental illness, suicide, and desertion are also addressed with care and respect. The ending is a positive one, and I think no reader will be disappointed with this story.

The setting as to the neighborhood and the town’s internal structure is described to perfection to match the author’s clear and beautiful writing style that hooks the reader right at the beginning and never releases until the last word.

seeing how a good and experienced author pulls together the many loose ends in a plot and how good characterization helps to do this.

the ease and acceptance of the couple by the town and the way the couple managed the children under their care.

is Catherine Ryan Hyde, the writer of more than 35 published books, including Just After Midnight, Heaven Adjacent, The Wake Up, Allie And Bea, Say Goodbye for Now, Leaving Blythe River, Ask Him Why, Worthy, The Language Of Hoofbeats, Take Me with You, When I Found You, Walk Me Home, and Don't Let Me Go.

It was a great reading experience for me and I didn't want to put the book down one second.

I have liked Catherine Ryan-Hyde's writing style that creates strong emotions in her readers ever since I read Don't Let Me Go. I have to applaud her writing because this author never steps away from controversial subjects and when she starts writing about them, she does it to perfection.

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Created Feb 17, 2019 at 4:27pm • Submit your own review...