Theo has been freelancing as a writer for Smithsonian and uses his contacts to see about restoring the painting for a piece on how such things are done. He sees a grungy painting of a horse and black groom and, given his interest in art, takes it with him. In 2019 DC, Theo, a black doctoral candidate in Georgetown’s art history program, helps a grouchy neighbor and is allowed to take any of the “junk” she is unloading on her sidewalk.

These time periods and stories are mixed up in one another, which makes for some intriguing storytelling and which makes trying to explain this novel a bit tricky, but here goes. The three time periods in which Brooks sets her action are 1850-75, 1955, and 2019, and in each period, she writes from the points of view of multiple characters. Perhaps it’s her background in journalism, or perhaps it’s just me being an oblivious white woman, but in this novel Brooks is able to put us in the shoes of young black men trying to follow their passions in a very dangerous world where they must always be on guard, whether that’s in the American south circa 1860 or Washington, DC, in 2019. I think Brooks is the rare white writer who is able to do this without embarrassing herself or deeply offending readers. The news is full of stories of white writers trying to write from a non-white perspective and failing spectacularly. Second, in writing about this horse and his fictional groom/trainer Jarret, who was enslaved, and in creating a character who is a contemporary Black man (Theo) doing research as an art historian in Washington, DC, Brooks must address the history of American racism and demonstrate the inherently unbalanced relationships between black men and whites with power.

This includes painter Thomas Scott, whose portraits of horses can be found in US galleries today, and art collector/dealer Martha Jackson who owned one of Scott’s portraits of Lexington. Brooks also fills her story with some of the real men and women whose lives Lexington touched. He also sired an impressive number of foals that went on to dominate horse racing. He was the most famous horse in the world during his lifetime (1850-75) and was the most successful race horse in US history. The thoroughbred Lexington, around whom the novel revolves, really existed. First, the amount of factual historical information woven into several riveting stories is astounding. I felt that The Secret Chord, her previous novel, was not quite up to snuff, but Brooks is back on her game with Horse. Caleb’s Crossing, People of the Book, and Year of Wonder: A Novel of the Plague were all outstanding. This novel is set in three distinct time periods linked by a Civil War era thoroughbred named LexingtonĪs far as I’m concerned Geraldine Brooks is one of the best historical fiction writers out there.

March brooks book review