Horse Heaven: A Novel

ix, 561 pp. 8vo. Smiley takes two years in the lives of horses and horse people, and weaves a brisk and bright book about the racing world. The character list includes the gamut of racetrack regulars-the trainers, the hyper-rich owners, the gamblers, the jockeys, horse-crazy teenage girls-and best of all, the horses. The horses are wonderfully imagined, and it's great fun to find out just what they think about racing, and how well they might do betting on each other.