Painted Horses

By: Malcolm Brooks

Narrated by: Julia Whelan

In the mid-1950s, America was flush with prosperity and saw an unbroken line of progress clear to the horizon, while the West was still very much wild. In this ambitious, incandescent debut, Malcolm Brooks animates that time and untamed landscape in a tale of the modern and the ancient, of love and fate, and of heritage threatened by progress.

Catherine Lemay is a young archaeologist on her way to Montana with a huge task before her - a canyon "as deep as the devil's own appetites." Working ahead of a major dam project, she has one summer to prove that nothing of historical value will be lost in the flood. From the moment she arrives, nothing is familiar - the vastness of the canyon itself mocks the contained, artifact-rich digs in post-Blitz London where she cut her teeth. And then there's John H, a former mustanger and veteran of the US Army's last mounted cavalry campaign, living a fugitive life in the canyon. John H inspires Catherine to see beauty in the stark landscape, and her heart opens to more than just the vanished past.

Painted Horses sends a dauntless young woman on a heroic quest, sings a love song to the horseman's vanishing way of life, and reminds us that love and ambition, tradition and the future, often make strange bedfellows. It establishes Malcolm Brooks as an extraordinary new talent.

©2014 Malcolm Brooks (P)2014 Blackstone Audio

Awesome modern western twist.

Original story. Good characters. I just really didn’t like the narrator who is a female do male voices. There is also a crow woman who is predominant in the story and she slaughters her voice as well. It was highly distracting I think from what the author intended for the male characters.

Greed or necessary progress.

At first I was sure about the many descriptions but as I found such word picture s
enjoyable . An ending I didn't expect .

I loved this book

Would you listen to Painted Horses again? Why?

I am not going into the correctness of the writing... I just know what I like... I read lots of books or listen in this case. I thought the book started out to be a good book and that was really all I expected but soon I realized it was not a good book, it was a great book. I loved darn near every minute of it!

What was one of the most memorable moments of Painted Horses?

Too many to name one.

Which scene was your favorite?

Again, many great ones.

Who was the most memorable character of Painted Horses and why?

John H. for me.

my new favorite writer

I read his 2 books back to back, I'm smittened by his story telling abilities.
Love adventures with humble heroes and heroines!
Please keep 'em coming!

Excellent, excellent

Wonderful book. New author to me, but one I will look for in the future. Living in the southwest, I know of Spanish Barbs so they are still around today, but this story is about so much more than our wild horses. Surprising motivations around land use. But I shouldn't be surprised. The narration was excellent.