Ghost Horse
Winner of the 2013 Gival Press Novel Award
“An elegy for a lost father, an unforgettable fable of the power of art, Ghost Horse weaves a singular spell, captivating the reader and never letting go.”
– Adam Johnson, author of The Orphan Master’s Son, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
Set amidst the social tensions of 1970’s Houston, Ghost Horse tells the story of eleven-year-old Buddy Turner’s shifting alliances within his fragmented family and with two other boys–one Anglo, one Latino–in their quest to make a Super-8 animated movie. As his father’s many secrets begin to unravel, Buddy discovers the real movie: the intersection between life as he sees it and the truth of his own past. In a vivid story of love, friendship, and betrayal, Ghost Horse explores a boy’s swiftly changing awareness of himself and the world through the lens of imagination.
Praise for Ghost Horse
“Children of 1970s divorce, your book is here … In ‘Ghost Horse,’ his lucid debut novel, Cambridge author Thomas H. McNeely has captured something harrowing about an era of chaos and unease.”
—Laura Collins-Hughes, The Boston Globe
“The writing is sensitive, beautiful, and ominous throughout … as if Cormac McCarthy and Denis Johnson teamed up to write a 1970s Texas YA novel that went off the rails somewhere—in a very, very good way.”
—Lisa Peet, Library Journal (in-house)
“… [T]his former Dobie Paisano fellow’s haunting debut novel … never allows its pop culture references or beautifully rendered sentences to soften the violence that life…visits upon its sensitive protagonist.”
— Jeff Salamon, Texas Monthly
Houston native Thomas H. McNeely explores the heartbreak and confusion of adolescence through the eyes of an 11 year-old boy…. It’s a shattering portrait, not only in the ways that divorce can unhinge a boy’s life, but also in the ways that wayward adults can corrupt childhood innocence.
– Charles Ealey, The Austin-American Statesman
“…McNeely beautifully portrays the confusion of a boy doing his best to deal with matters that are beyond his understanding but fully capable of doing him harm …. Overall, the novel will be a haunting read for anyone who’s experienced the childhood anguish of divorce and a powerful reminder to mothers and fathers of the unseen damage that their behavior can inflict on their children … A dark, deeply stirring novel about the quiet tragedy of growing up in a broken family.”
“McNeely writes with eerie precision the feelings of a child …. If you believe that a book should push you off balance and take you somewhere new, then Ghost Horse will deliver.”
— Ada Fetters, The Commonline Journal
“Ghost Horse … is both a deeply moving coming-of-age story and an intense psychological portrait of a family in crisis. McNeely weaves an intricate web of a plot against the backdrop of the racial and class tensions of Houston of the 1970s, and explores themes of love, lost innocence, loyalty, and broken families. The tale of eleven-year-old Buddy over one unsettling year of his adolescence makes for a compelling and worthwhile read… Ghost Horse is a gripping read—I turned the pages feverishly, desperate to know what would happen and if Buddy would be okay….”
— Leila Rice, Reader’s Oasis
“Ghost Horse tells a story that will stay with you. A story of racism and class tension. A story of broken families and lost innocence …. A dark, beautiful, heartbreaking story, I found myself wanting to both quote everything and turn away in unease. McNeely weaves a tale you won’t soon forget.”
—Elizabeth O’Brien, Fueled by Fiction
