2024 IBPA Benjamin Franklin Awards Gold Winner in Fiction: General
2024 IBPA Benjamin Franklin Awards Silver Winner in Teen: Fiction (13-18 Years) and Best New Voice: Fiction
“What an irresistibly readable novel Christy Cashman has written! Her young heroine Reese is an astonishing creation, warmly sympathetic, impulsive, unpredictable, brash, loyal and loving, endearing, exasperating, most of all memorable—a triumphant portrait of tumultuous adolescence in our time. The Truth About Horses plunges us into a beautifully evoked rural world in which horses are both magnificent beasts requiring human love and devotion, and iconic creatures out of mythology.”
—Joyce Carol Oates, American novelist, short story writer, and essayist
“From its first gripping pages, this beautifully written, vividly imagined novel had me hooked. Anyone who remembers being a teen, loving horses, or losing a loved one will find deep meaning in this book.”
—Sy Montgomery, New York Times best-selling author of How to Be a Good Creature and The Soul of an Octopus
“With all of the unpredictable thrill of a horseback ride, The Truth About Horses took me deep into the mind of a teenage girl searching for her post-traumatic truth. It is a beautiful, moving story that I'm glad to know and certain to remember.”
—Harry Connick Jr., Emmy Award–winning actor and Grammy Award–winning musician
“This is a heartwarming novel about facing down the perils of adversity. It's also an examination of how and why we become stronger at the broken places. Christy Cashman has written a book for everyone, young and old, who wants to know about the elemental gallop of the heart.”
—Colum McCann, author of Apeirogon and Let the Great World Spin
“Original, deftly crafted, brilliant, and a compelling page-turner of a read from start to finish, The Truth About Horses showcases author Christy Cashman’s genuine flair for the kind of memorable narrative storytelling style that keeps young readers riveted from beginning to end.”
—Midwest Book Review
“The Truth About Horses had me hooked on page one. I set aside everything else and just kept reading, sleep be damned. It is a timeless story about growing up in a world that is less than perfect and trying to figure out who you are through all of those challenges—something each of us faces at some point. Reese’s strength, wit, wisdom, and vulnerability offer up a multi-faceted character and a person I would like to know. The novel is a tour de force.”
—Judith Laster, Festival Director, The Woods Hole Film Festival
“In Christy Cashman's first novel The Truth About Horses, the author proves herself to be a worthy successor to Harper Lee. Cashman's protagonist, Reese, instantly captures the reader in the same way that Scout does in To Kill a Mockingbird—and takes the reader with her into her world for a magical examination of the human heart.”
—Arthur T. Vanderbilt II, author of Fortune's Children: The Fall of the House of Vanderbilt
“The truth about The Truth About Horses is that it is impossible to put down. With simple ingredients of hay and humor, family and fury, Christy Cashman has spun an unstoppable feast. She shows us how hooves and hearts beat the same truth to light and reminds us laughter and tears need not be served as separate courses.”
—Sally Taylor, singer, songwriter, and founder of Consenses
“Christy Cashman has written a beautiful, thrilling tale about a teenaged girl’s journey from fear to courage, from anger to forgiveness, from broken-heartedness to openness. The Truth About Horses is so much about the mysterious forces, within us and around us, that are always there to guide us, and the way in which people enter our lives exactly when we need them—if only we’ll let them.”
—Jane Seymour, actress, designer, and author of The Road Ahead
“The Truth About Horses is a beautifully written and engaging story. Christy Cashman easily sets the tone with her terrific descriptions of the land, the horses, and her teenaged protagonist, Reese. This is a tale of loss, grieving, believing in dreams, and being true to yourself. Reese’s voice is spot on, and you will find yourself alternately worried, frustrated, and awed by her. I quickly became invested in the story and anxious to read on!”
—Judith Belushi Pisano, producer, uke enthusiast, author of Samurai Widow, and coauthor of Blues Brothers: Private
“The Truth About Horses is a fast-moving, emotionally compelling story about friendship, courage, and healing. Christy Cashman knows a lot about girls and horses, and also about loneliness and grief, and she writes with admirable honesty and insight.”
—Tom Perrotta, author of Election and Tracy Flick Can’t Win
“Christy Cashman’s The Truth About Horses tells a riveting story about a teenager dealing heroically with a terrible loss. In over three decades of working with young adults, I have never read anything that better embodies the voice of someone that age. One minute our hero is painfully self-destructive, but then she has us laughing out loud and in awe of her strength and her wit. Like me, you may want to race through to see how it all turns out, but don't do it! Every sentence counts.”
—The Rev. John H. Finley IV, cofounder and Head of Epiphany School
“Each character, major or minor, is very much alive. Vivid images resonate long after the reading is over. Cashman’s heroine evokes the passions, struggles, and grace in all of us.”
—Fontaine Dolls Dubus, choreographer, playwright, producer, and performer
“There are few people who won’t be swept away by this beautiful, gritty, and gripping story about the renewal of life and relationships. Reese takes the reader on a jour- ney of raw emotions, from pain to joy, in this wonder of steadfast perseverance. Being a midwesterner myself, I could almost smell the sacred and magical farmland in her pages. The Truth About Horses is a must-read.”
—Shannon Pastuszak, media executive, publisher, and founder of The Newbury Cup
“Christy Cashman has written a powerful story about loss and grief. Wonderfully evocative and with the author’s passion for horses shining through every page, this is a rich and deeply felt novel. Eschewing easy answers, The Truth About Horses is strong on how even the small choices we make, sometimes rashly, can so easily hurt those most important to us, and how struggling on through each day can bring enough hope to light the path toward redemption and new beginnings.”
—Kieran Crowley, author of The Misfits and Mighty Dynamo
“What a ride! The Truth About Horses is the terrific story of a young girl dealing with the trauma of grief while finding herself and a place for her own dreams in the unpredictable world of horses. A really enjoyable roll- er-coaster journey that never lags—there is always a surprise waiting for Reese and the reader.”
—Alan Devine, actor in Netflix’s Valhalla and BBC’s The Tudors
“Don’t waste another moment reading these simple lines of praise. Go straight to the horse’s mouth. By the way, it’s a winner.”
—Carly Simon, musician, singer, songwriter, and author
