Horse

A discarded painting in a junk pile a skeleton in an attic and the greatest racehorse in American history: from these strands a Pulitzer Prize winner tells a sweeping story of spirit obsession and injustice across American history

Kentucky 1850. An enslaved groom named Jarret and a bay foal forge a bond of understanding that will carry the horse to record-setting victories across the South. When the nation erupts in civil war an itinerant young artist who has made his name on paintings of the racehorse takes up arms for the Union. On a perilous night he reunites with the stallion and his groom very far from the glamour of any racetrack.

New York City 1954. Martha Jackson a gallery owner celebrated for taking risks on edgy contemporary painters becomes obsessed with a 19th equestrian oil painting of mysterious provenance.

Washington DC 2019. Jess a Smithsonian scientist from Australia and Theo a Nigerian-American art historian find themselves unexpectedly connected through their shared interest in the horse-one studying the stallion's bones for clues to his power and endurance the other uncovering the lost history of the unsung Black horsemen who were critical to his racing success.

Based on the remarkable true story of the record-breaking thoroughbred Lexington who became America's greatest stud sire Horse is an original gripping multi-layered reckoning with the legacy of enslavement and racism in America.