A Field of Dead Horses

Sometimes you may get a book that starts out slow and then the book gains momentum and your interest as it goes along. Then, there can be books that get you from the first page. This book got me from the start. Elliott Chapel owns a horse ranch that his father had started. His dad Paul Chapel was well known in the horse racing world. He trained thoroughbreds, but after the loss of his wife due to child birth he changed completely. His relationship with his son is sad, and at times makes you want to cry. A man who was filled with so much grief, that he never realized his wife's last gift to him. Elliott and his ranch manager Booley were out mending fences when they came upon a woman who was bloody and beaten, laying face up in the shadow waters of Penny Creek. Elliott told Booley to go and call the sheriff and the doctor to come out to where the woman's body lay. But Booley told Elliott it would be better if he called the people to come out. During the time period of this book a black man was not considered as equal to a white man. They were treated as slaves and not to be trusted. But Booley was different as he was wise and well read. To the Chapel's, Booley was family. They made him their ranch manager and he had his own home. Both things were rare in that time period for a black man. This book defies the normal conventions of its time. Society would not accept a romance, which you will find when you read this book also. Rated PG