• Age: 9 to 13
• Grade: 4 to 8

When thirteen-year-old Jamie Francis’s parents divorced, she and her mother moved from Halifax to the small town of River Bend, Nova Scotia. Jamie doesn’t have any friends and isn’t sure how she’ll ever make any, when she comes across a neglected-looking horse in a field: a golden palomino she names Peach.

After befriending Peach’s widowed owner, Jamie learns that her newfound friend is being sold to notorious horse-trainer, Valerie Scott, at nearby Tamarack Stables. Jamie offers to pitch in, mucking out stalls and doing chores around the barn, and becomes enchanted with the world of competitive horseback riding. She even makes a few friends—including Val’s cute red-headed son, Nick, and Naomi, a popular girl from school. But she still isn’t sure if she fits in. If only she could ride Peach herself…

Will horseback-riding be the key to Jamie’s happiness, or will it gallop off into the sunset without her?

Vivien Gorham has been writing stories and riding horses since she was eight years old. Raised in Minnesota, she has worked in the Northwest Territories, Alaska’s Denali National Park, and on a dude ranch in Montana. She now lives in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, with her family, two fluffy cats, and a dog called Niska. Her favourite horse book is The Horsemasters (1957). She is pictured here with Lukas at Restless Pines Farm. This is her first novel.

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