FROM AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR BEATRICE MACNEIL COMES THE ACCLAIMED STORY OF THOSE WHO WERE SENT INTO BATTLE— AND THOSE WHO WERE LEFT AT HOME. In 1941, three young men enlist in the legendary Cape Breton Highlanders and sail off to war, leaving their families to wait and wonder at home in Beinn Barra, Nova Scotia. Fisherman Hector MacDonald, gifted musician Benny Doucet, and hopeful medical student Calum MacPherson are all eager for the excitement of life in the famous regiment, but on the homefront, they leave behind only the anxiety and pain of their loved ones. Heart-wrenchingly told in smart, lyrical, evocative prose, Where White Horses Gallop is a novel that strikes at the heart of war in its glory, and in all its stark legacy.

BEATRICE MACNEIL is the bestselling author of Where White Horses Gallop, which was longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award; Butterflies Dance in the Dark; Keeper of Tides; The Geranium Window; and her short story collection, The Moonlight Skater. She received the Tic Butler Award for outstanding contribution to Cape Breton writing and culture, and has won the Dartmouth Book Award on three occasions. The Girl He Left behind is her fifth novel. Beatrice MacNeil lives in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.

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“Beatrice MacNeil has written a wonderful book, heartwrenching in its story and lyrically beautiful in its telling…Her vivid and original descriptions, her poetic metaphors and similes, and the graceful cadences of her sentences all remind us of the great pleasure to be had in the reading of finely crafted prose.”

THE GLOBE AND MAIL

“Beatrice MacNeil has a brilliant insight into the souls of the wounded. This is a splendid novel.”

ALISTAIR MACLEOD

“[M]agnificent…MacNeil’s novel provides a wonderful insight into personal fear and personal tragedy. It shows how war can deny a future; yet despite the interlude of sorrow the novel so well describes, there is still hope. This is clearly an award-winning novel, one which deserves a wide circulation. No review of this length could do justice to its power and profundity.”

CAPE BRETON POST