“Bea and the New Deal Horse”
by L. M. Elliott
A moving tale about the spirit of American persistence, the magical partnership between girl and horse, the power of hope, found family, and learning to trust again.
Bea wakes in a hayloft where her father has brought her and her little sister after the stock market crash took everything: his job, their home, their Mama’s health and life. But he’s gone, leaving only a note that he thinks the farm’s owner, a Mrs. Scott, might take care of the girls the way he no longer can. Her daughter was once a dear friend of their Mama’s.
But that daughter is not there, and Mrs. Scott seems haunted, brittle. How is Bea supposed to convince the formidable horsewoman to take in two stray children? Her money and farm are drying up in a drought too. Mrs. Scott may even have to sell her beautiful horses, starting with a promising but volatile chestnut she rescued from abuse and Bea saves from colic. Wrestling with her own hurts, Bea understands the chestnut’s skittish suspicion and dangerous temper. If she can coax the powerful jumper to trust her, together “this beaten-up horse and beaten-down girl” might be able to compete at horse shows and save the farm—maybe even win a place in Mrs. Scott’s heart.
