THE YEAR OF THE HORSES

Courtney Maum's memoir of finding her way through depression and insomnia by reconnecting with horses is honest, thoughtful, and wry. She recounts her journey to peace and a reinvigorated marriage with gentle humor and self-deprecation. It feels a bit like Maum is a close friend who is talking with you about deep topics. She is clear-eyed in her reckoning with teenage anorexia, writer's block, and mom guilt, yet she struggles to give herself permission to admit to her feelings in a life seemingly full of privilege. First, Maum begins to take riding lessons again, and then she takes up polo, a sport fraught with sexism and the necessity to ride really, really fast, which terrifies her. In these activities she finds her community. A.B. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine [Published: JULY 2022]