Chasing Painted Horses
by Drew Hayden Taylor
Hardcover ISBN: 9781770865600
Size: 6" x 9"
Trade Paperback ISBN: 9781770866089
Size: 5.5" x 8.5"
Subjects:
FIC019000 FICTION / Literary
FIC071000 FICTION / Friendship
FIC059000 FICTION / Native American & Aboriginal
Trade Paperback
Price: $22.95
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Publication Date: November 14, 2020
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Synopsis:
When Ralph Thomas comes across graffiti of a horse in an alleyway in the early hours of the morning, he is stopped in his tracks. He recognizes this horse. A half-asleep Indigenous homeless man sees Ralph’s reaction to the horse and calls out to him. Over the course of a morning’s worth of hot coffee on a bitterly cold day, Ralph and the homeless man talk and Ralph remembers a troubling moment from his childhood when an odd little girl, Danielle, drew the most beautiful and intriguing horse on his mother’s Everything Wall, winning the competition set up for children on the Otter Lake Reserve.
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Ralph has lived with many questions that arose from his eleventh winter. What did the horse mean — to him, his sister, his best friend, and, most importantly, the girl who drew it? These questions have never left him.
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Chasing Painted Horses has a magical, fable-like quality that will enchant readers, and haunt them, for years to come.
Hardcover
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Price: $32.95
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Publication Date: September 14, 2019
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Winner, 2020 PMC Indigenous Literature Award
Nominated, 2020 Forest of Reading Evergreen Award
Selected, 2021 One Book One Aurora
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Reviews
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“Chasing Painted Horses by Drew Hayden Taylor (Curve Lake Anishinaabe) is an enchanting novel about how finding some equestrienne graffiti in an alley compels police officer Ralph Thomas to wonder about an extraordinary girl named Danielle. In their youth, Danielle drew a horse on the creative space known as ‘The Everything Wall,’ creating a lasting image the officer must now contend with. Flashing between Thomas’ interactions with a gifted, homeless Cree named Harry and his recollections of Danielle and others, Taylor’s genius for writing didactic comedies are on full display. Taylor’s faithful readers will recognize that this novel expands on stories he explored earlier in his career, revisiting the characters and creative spaces that tug on the reins around one’s heart.”
— Ryan Winn, Tribal College Journal of American Indian Higher Education
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“It's a haunting novel, with flashes of wry humour.”
— The Globe and Mail
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“Taylor doesn’t shy away from challenging the reader, but he offers us beacons of light in the most unexpected places.”
— I've Read This
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“Readers will appreciate the touching depiction of family and friendship dynamics in childhood, and the novel's suffusion with empathy makes it a worthwhile read.”
— Quill & Quire
“Drew Hayden Taylor is one of those dangerous writers who knows the potential of humour, and how far it can reach into society, how deep it can cut, how quickly it can heal.”
— Thomas King, author of The Inconvenient Indian
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“Drew has given us a grand mystery, a riddle, a gift. Every page was turned with growing wonder. I will be thinking about this novel for years to come … The elegance he's created here with Danielle's precious gift will shadow us for years.”
— Richard Van Camp, author of Moccasin Square Gardens
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