Review: Sarah Lean - A Horse for Angel
Sarah Lean: A Horse for Angel
HarperCollins, 2013, £6.99
Also available as an ebook
Sarah Lean is a new author to me: A Horse for Angel is her second book, following A Dog Called Homeless. Aimed at primary
age children, it’s the story of Nell, who lives with her frantically busy,
on-the-edge-of-neglectful, mother. Her father left them years ago to live in
Las Vegas with a new woman, and Nell’s not seen him since. Nell’s life is a procession through different forms of childcare. She’s shipped off to an aunt she’s never met for two weeks during the summer, and there she meets Angel. Nell’s life may be difficult, but Angel’s is even more so. She’s on the run from a children’s home, and has kidnapped a horse, Bella. Bella needs saving from the meat man, and Angel needs saving from a life of loneliness. The two
girls have a difficult relationship at first, but their gradual acceptance of
one another is beautifully depicted.
This book’s strength is in its depiction of relationships: Nell’s
difficult relationship with her mother is well observed: Nell has the
watchfulness common to children buffeted by parental busy-ness, sidelined into
an endless round of pre and after school clubs, not really certain of their
place in the world or in their parents’ affections. Nell’s mother comes off
even worse in comparison with her Aunt Liv. Nell’s never met her aunt, but is
going to stay with her for two weeks during the holidays, part of the endless
juggling necessary as working parents attempt to match long school holidays
with the much less generous time off given by the average employer.
“I noticed we’d completely left out a whole middle bit of the conversation where I could say I didn’t want to go. Which is always part of Mum’s master plan. Cut out the annoying middle bit and get to the point, or the next appointment. Never mind what I want.”
Aunt Liv’s house is untidy and cluttered: Nell’s is shiny
and organised. Aunt Liv’s children bake cupcakes. Aunt Liv grows things. She’s
the earth mother to Nell’s mother’s gloss, to her harried attempts to make a
life for herself and her daughter. This isn’t, however, a bashing of working
mothers. Sarah Lean isn’t judgemental about Nell’s mother: “It’ll be hard for
me, too” she says as she drops Nell off with Liv, “being without you.” Sarah Lean portrays quite brilliantly the differing
perspectives from which we can view the relationships between her characters.
It’s wonderfully nuanced.
The horse content isn’t quite so strong: the romance of the
legend about the hundredth horse sounds rather lovely, but the reality of one
person owning ninety nine horses, with really not very much help is that those
horses wouldn’t have been looked after properly. You just can’t. The legend
shades into outright fantasy as the book progresses, and the nature of Bella’s
foal becomes clear. This didn’t detract from the story: it’s done with a light
touch.
As an observation of the dynamics of modern family life,
this is beautifully, beautifully done. The little nuances and niggles of
feeling, the shifting and uneasy compromises of modern life are done with such
sensitivity: it’s a lovely read. It’s firmly enough rooted in real life for the
fantastic elements to sit relatively easily with it.
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