The Horse

WILLY VLAUTIN has published six previous novels: <i>The Motel Life Northline Lean on Pete The Free Don't Skip Out on Me </i>and <i>The Night Always Comes</i>. <i>The Motel Life </i>and<i> Lean on Pete </i>were turned into feature films released in 2012 and 2017 respectively. The former starred Kris Kristofferson and Emile Hirsch and the latter starred Charlie Plummer Chloe Sevigny and Steve Buscemi and was adapted and directed by Andrew Haigh. Vlautin lives outside of Portland Oregon and is the founding member of the bands Richmond Fontaine and The Delines. <i>The Night Always Comes i</i>s being developed by H2L Media with Vanessa Kirby's production company for Vanessa to star. Ben Caron (Sharper) will direct. For fans of <i>A Star is Born </i>and <i>Crazy Heart </i>Willy Vlautin's most personal novel yet - a poetic and deeply moving story about what it really takes to be a musician. Vlautin writes about people overlooked by society and overlooked by literature. In THE HORSE he tells the story of a tenderhearted man who has a steady talent and a crushing addiction. It is both a work of extraordinary compassion and a really great novel. There's not another writer out there living or dead that I trust with my heart more than Willy Vlautin and he breaks it every damn time. In Al Ward's love and loss in his decency his pathos and his struggle to endure Vlautin has gifted us <b>a paean to the power of song. <i>The Horse</i> is another classic from one of America's greatest storytellers.</b> I loved <i>The Horse</i> - for its melodic prose and its unflinching heart. This terrific parable of art and aging laced within the bittersweet story of an old casino musician is like the literary equivalent of a classic album by Tom Waits or Townes Van Zandt. Vlautin at his absolute finest - unflinching but full of heart. No one writes like him. <i>The Horse</i> marks the pinnacle of a writing career whose roots reach back past Springsteen to Steinbeck and beyond. A bruised and beautiful instant classic. I loved this novel so much though it broke my heart again and again. No one anywhere writes with such power and such stark beauty about American desperation and want American loneliness and heartache. We need Willy Vlautin like we needed Johnny Cash like we needed Larry McMurtry - he's essential and every book he writes proves it all over again. <b>'Tremendously compelling . . . as succinct and wrenching as a well-honed folk song.' </b><br><b><i>GUARDIAN</i></b><br><b></b><br><b>'A bruised and beautiful instant classic.' </b><br><b>BEN MYERS</b><br><br><b>Willy Vlautin's most personal novel yet - a poetic and deeply moving story about what it really takes to be a musician.</b><i></i><br><i></i><br><i>'There's a horse' he whispered. 'An old horse that's standing in front of my house. He's blind and he won't eat and I don't know what to do.'</i><br><br>65-year-old Al Ward is several years into an isolated stint living on old mining land in Nevada left to him by his great uncle. One morning the horse arrives outside his home seemingly unable to feed itself or stay safe from coyote attacks. 6000 feet up 30 miles from the nearest town and broken by alcoholism and anxiety Al must decide what to do.<br><br>Intercut with Al's present-day story are episodes from his long life as a songwriter and guitarist. Beginning in Reno we follow his chequered career as a touring musician struggling to make ends meet and to survive the reality of a like devoid of the glitz and glamour of mainstream success.<br><br>Vlautin's new novel is a gorgeous homage to the uncelebrated musicians who make our lives more joyful and as always an exploration of loneliness humanity and resilience.<br><br><b>'Another classic from one of America's greatest storytellers.'</b><br><b>JONATHAN EVISON</b><br><b></b><br><b>'A terrific parable of art and aging.'</b><br><b>JESS WALTER </b>