It is an enjoyable enough read, not just one of those books you want to tell all your friends about.

What I really liked about this book was the references to Xenophon, an Ancient Greek philosopher, commentator and historian, who I knew about from my Classical Studies A level.

Sarah is a strong teenage character who like most teenagers is reticent in sharing their feelings or asking for help. Also on that train ride, she swears she saw a horse, rearing gracefully while a little girl commanded him from the ground.

At one point Sarah says “You know like I do that sometimes telling the truth makes things worse, not better” (p. This is told as a flashback and shows how Henri is in disgrace at Le Cadre Noir for fighting with another horseman, someone who was insulting of Florence and wanted to humiliate Henri infront of everyone out of jealousy and spite. It is considered to be the most difficult of all the airs above the ground, or higher-level, Haute ecole, classical dressage movements in which the horse leaves the ground. I had never heard of it; but, I was aware of the Spanish Riding School of Vienna and the famous Lippizaner horses.Her characters are always well realised and whilst some of the incidences in the book stretch belief a little, that, in my opinion, is what fiction is all about. But when Henri suffers a stroke, Sarah must go into foster care and do whatever it takes to not be parted from Boo, even if that means hiding his existence.