THE HORSEMAN

The first novel in a trilogy, this is a hypnotic description of rural life in the 1900s, hallucinatory and empathetic.

THE HORSEMENA is about a boy who loves horses and loves working with his father in the stables of the manor house that employs most of the local population. The boy’s extraordinary natural ability with horses sets him apart in the community in both positive and isolating ways.

He comes to the attention of the master of the manor, and eventually his daughter, who is odd in her own right, and also totally devoted to horses.

The denouement of the novel sees the two young people decide to go for a swim together. It’s innocent enough, but they are seen, and the fallout from that small error– and the shame it brings on both families, which they have wildly underestimated – means that the boy is kicked off the land he’s known his whole life.

Tim Pears is the author of eight novels, one of which, In a Land of Plenty, was made into a ten-part BBC TV series. Born in 1956, Tim grew up in Devon, left school at sixteen and had countless menial jobs before studying at the National Film and Television School. He has been Writer in Residence at Cheltenham Festival of Literature, and Royal Literary Fund Fellow at Oxford Brookes University, and has taught creative writing at Ruskin College and elsewhere. He lives in Oxford with his wife and children.

In April 2012 Tim’s novel Landed was shortlisted for the prestigious IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, which recognises the highest quality literary writing published around the world.