Rough Magic

Lara Prior-Palmer jokes that her upper-class British accent is full of entitlement, and narrator Henrietta Meire certainly possesses that posh undertone in her accent. But Prior-Palmer is also authentic and self-deprecating, and Meire expresses that likability with energy and vulnerability in her voice. At 19 years old, on a whim and with no experience or preparation, Prior-Palmer enters the famous Mongol Derby, a 1,000-kilometer endurance horse race. She struggles with the GPS, gets soaked in the rain, falls off one of her ponies, and runs out of food. Meire brings the remoteness of the Mongolian steppe easily to mind and vividly portrays the author's gratitude and affection for the ponies (she gives them nicknames like Brolly and Seven) along with the kindness of the local people who feed and house her along the route. A.B. � AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine