Sam Mitchell was fifteen when he failed to make the riding team for cross country eventing. Hilary Anson, a glamorous and promiscuous eighteen-year-old, meets him at a stuffy party for the wealthy folks of Kelso County. She's arrived from an English boarding school to work with horses, but her home is Apartheid-era South Africa. Hilary decides to help train Sam to ride better, including showjumping without a saddle and bridle on his willing mare Della and plunging on horseback off a rock ledge into a quarry pond. (Note to readers: this is very dangerous!)

As they chat on the rides home, Hilary lets some of her past slip. She's already experienced enough of life that she has grown up fast, and she's been loved, she's all been taken advantage of and forced to flee. Hilary also claims to have a pistol given to her by Nelson Mandela. The young Sam has never heard of the activist, so he doesn't stop to wonder why an ANC member would give a weapon to someone privileged.

The counter-narrative works well and continually raises more questions than it answers. We think we know what to expect, but other than danger and turmoil, who could know what to expect of life in South Africa during the 1960s? The young people carry the narrative and the solid background of horses works for me. The details are excellent, like the Stubben saddle, the heavy Pelham bit, the French warmblood stallion. My favourite chapter is the cross country event where Sam rides with Della. This unusual combination of story threads makes SWIMMING WITH HORSES one of the most memorable books you'll read all year, especially if you like horses.

Book Summary