Riding Lessons

Annemarie Zimmer has issues. She creates problems with her parents, daughter, ex-husband, ex-boyfriend, and employees. Maggi-Meg Reed captures Annemarie's self-absorbed rants and conflicts with just the right amount of strident enthusiasm and engagement. Set in the fascinating world of horse farms and equestrian events, the novel--maddening protagonist and all--is tough to resist. Reed's performance is effortless as she takes the listener through Annemarie's daily trials, centered on a rehabilitated mystery horse whose appearance brings back old ghosts. Annemarie must come to terms with the riding accident that ended her career as a teenager before she can move on to become a true adult. RIDING LESSONS is an ideal beach book, especially for horse lovers. L.B.F. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine

March 1, 2004
Like The Horse Whisperer
, Gruen's polished debut is a tale of human healing set against the primal world of horses. The Olympic dreams of teenaged equestrian Annemarie Zimmer end when her beloved horse, Harry, injures her and destroys himself in a jumping accident. In the agonizing aftermath, she gives up riding and horses entirely. Two decades later, she returns to her family's horse farm a divorcee, with her troubled teenaged daughter, Eve, in tow. There, her gruff Germanic mother struggles to maintain the farm and care for Annemarie's father, who is stricken with ALS. Although Annemarie decides (disastrously) to manage the farm's business, her attention quickly turns to an old and ostensibly worthless horse with the same rare coloring as Harry. Her long-denied passion for riding reawakens as she tracks the horse's identity and eventually discovers it to be Harry's younger brother. She must heal both horse and herself as she struggles with her father's deterioration, Eve's rebellion and her attraction to both the farm's new trainer and her childhood sweetheart Dan. Impulsive and self-absorbed, Annemarie isn't always likable, but Gruen's portrait of the stoic elder Zimmers is beautifully nuanced, as is her evocation of Eve's adolescent troubles. Amid this realistically complex generational sandwich, the book's appealing horse scenes—depicted with unsentimental affection—help build a moving story of loss, survival and renewal. (Apr.)

Forecast:
Never underestimate the public's fascination with horses. Harper Torch certainly isn't; the house is launching Gruen's debut with an impressive 400,000-copy first printing. While this book isn't likely to be the next
Seabiscuit, its striking cover image, featuring a silhouette of a wild horse, will help attract a broad spectrum of readers.

Starred review from May 26, 2008
When the main character in a novel is as annoying as a boil, an audio performer must be thrilled at the chance to portray someone who isn't particularly nice or competent. Maggi-Meg Reed's Annemarie shouts, cries, whines, cajoles and lies her way through escalating crises. Reed is superb. She does an equally adept rendering of the other characters, including Annemarie's mother, with her thick Austrian accent and tight-lipped stoic voice. Eve, Annemarie's daughter, is a perfectly petulant teenager, speaking to her mother in a strident and querulous tone. A local policewoman has such a perfect New Hampshire accent that one wonders why the other locals don't. Despite the unsympathetic Annemarie, Reed's stellar performance makes Gruen's 2004 debut novel hard to turn off. A Harper paperback (Reviews, Mar. 1, 2004).