Ruth and the Blue Horse
Charles Ashton, Illustrated by Emma Chichester Clark
Published by Walker
0-7445-3685-5, £3.50 pbk
When her family move out of their farm to a quiet house with no animals but the family cats, Ruth grieves for the life and the lives she's had to abandon. Then she befriends a strange blue horse in a nearby field, who seems to understand her feelings, and even her language. For a while, Ruth is comforted, but when she attempts to make new friends, it becomes apparent that the horse is a source of disruptive passion rather than consolation. This is a haunting and enigmatic book, presenting an unusually indeterminate ending after an alarming climax. Highly recommended for fluent and newly independent readers in search of something different.
Reviewed in BfK No. 93 (July 1995) by George Hunt (GH)
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