The God of Animals by Aryn Kyle

This is a coming of age story for Alice Winston.  She lives on a horse farm with her parents; her father is a horse breeder and trainer and her mother is a recluse.  A few months ago her sister met and married a rodeo cowboy.    Alice is navigating the difficult change from grade six to grade seven at the same time as dealing with the death of a classmate and failing fortunes of the family business.

As I read this book, I came to realize that each of the main characters in the story had a horse twin.  Alice is twinned with one of the colts.  Still not sure of herself, feeling out her legs and trying to let go of her parents.  Her sister Nona is no longer a colt, she has managed to get the gate open and run off with a wild horse that happened by.

Her mother reminded me of one of the horses from the back pasture.  One that had been beaten down, but hadn't quite given up.  We saw, when the grandparents were visiting, that there is still some spark in her, but whether that will be brought to the fore is still in question.

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book.  It started out easy; a nice likable book.  Bit by bit it kept building, becoming more than the story of a girl moving on the next school grade.  For me it was the character of Mr. Delmar, the grade seven english teacher.    A good teacher, a creep, he made my skin crawl.  He would be that nasty horse; nice to you one minute while you were looking him in the eye, but as soon as you turned away, he'd bite or kick.

Excellent novel. 

Thanks to Rachelle at Bibliobabe.com for my copy of this book.  Each month Rachelle offers a draw for a different book.  I was fortunate to win this one a while back. 


Author Aryn Kyle's website.  Click on the title 'Covers' to view images of the various covers for this book as it has been printed around the world.

This is my 28th book for the Read, Remember, Recommend Fiction Challenge hosted by Bibliobabe.  Visit the site and check the comments for the contest.  You will find links to dozens of reviews for award winning novels.