Although this is technically a children’s book, I would class it as being eminently readable for adults in the way The Hobbit is, or Arthur Ransome’s books are. It is magical, joyous and uplifting. It tells the tale of Serendipity, who lives in a “familiar but reimagined Great Britain”.
It took me a while to work out some of the renamed places, but it became fun to spot them. Serendipity lives in Lahn Dan (London), which is closed off from the rest of Britain and run by the Minister’s Police Force. People don’t generally try to escape because the punishment would be to be sent to Two Swords and never seen again.
Serendipity’s mother dies, but she has always talked of horses running free. Many people don’t believe in the existence of horses, but Serendipity does, & she wants to find them. She has a miniature toy horse which her mother gave her years before, and she has seen paintings & sculptures of horses around the city.
All she has to help her is a simple map, to lead her from Grey Britan to Whales, where she believes the horses are. Her only friend is Professor Nimbus, a storyteller, who encourages her eventually to escape Lahn Dan and try to find the horses. She teams up with Tab, a smuggler boy, and they get through the Emm Twenty-five Wall and out into the unknown world beyond. Along the way they meet various people, some who are helpful, some who are very definitely not.
At the beginning of the book is a short quote from Edwin Muir’s poem “The Horses”, which is one I studied for English O-level, about a 7-day war & life as men knew it disappearing – no radio, no technology, no vehicles; and then, less than a year later, the horses come, and life can begin again as the land is tilled and food is grown. The author’s dedication mentions several horses and her love for them is obvious. From that, she has woven this enchanting story.
For children, this is a cracking adventure story about following a dream; for adults, it has another layer about the importance of hope, trust and persistence in the face of adversity.
Zillah Bethel knew something of this; she was born in a leprosy hospital in Papua New Guinea, & didn’t own a pair of shoes till she came to Britain aged eight. She grew up in a culture of storytelling; stories passed down through the generations orally, not through books. After a university education at Oxford, she has written for adults & children, being enthralled by the magic of words.
Don’t be put off by this being a children’s book; it is a book for older children but holds so much for the adult reader.
ABOUT THE BOOK
A gorgeously lyrical journey of discovery across a reimagined Great Britain.
Serendipity loves horses. No one in Lahn Dan has ever seen one, apparently, they died out before the Gases - but there are statues of them around the city, paintings and drawings too if you know where to look. And there's the little lost wooden horse Mama gave Serendipity when she was little.
When Mama dies, Seren is taken under the wing of Professor Nimbus, a storyteller. Nimbus is kind and knowledgable, but Seren has started to question the Minister's rule and life beyond the high, impenetrable Emm Twenty-Five wall. Hidden among Mama's few possessions was a map which suggests there is life outside of Lahn Dahn and a place where horses live and roam freely - out beyond the wall and the Minister's grip. So, with the help of a trader boy called Tab and his little dog Mouse, Serendipity heads into the unknown, searching for the beautiful creatures she's always dreamed of.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Zillah has also written three adult novels: SEAHORSES ARE REAL
LE TEMPS DES CERISES
GIRL IN PROFILE
and three children's novels:
THE SHARK CALLER
A WHISPER OF HORSES
THE EXTRAORDINARY COLOURS OF AUDEN DARE
Zillah shares about growing up in Papua New Guinea, first moving to England, cultural differences, falling in love with the written word and more in her interview with Book Trust UK.
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