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The Hearts of Horses

3.86 of 5 stars 3.86 · rating details · 1,811 ratings · 442 reviews

This breakout novel from the author of The Jump-Off Creek tells the heartwarming story of a determined young woman with a gift for �gentling” wild horses.

In the winter of 1917, a big-boned young woman shows up at George Bliss’s doorstep. She's looking for a job breaking horses, and he hires her on. Many of his regular hands are off fighting the war, and he glimpses, beneat...more

Hardcover, 304 pages

Published November 6th 2007 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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Apr 15, 2009 Lara rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: earth, women-gender

I met Molly Gloss when I was in high school in Eastern Oregon, the setting for her beautiful novel, The Jump-off Creek. She was a local hero for the simple reason that she wrote about our world, our hills, our familiar tamarack forests and sagebrush, our quiet people and the lives they lead. In a state best known for Portland and the accessibility of natural wonder to the urban I-5 corridor, it was a refreshing bit of acknowledgment to see real - published! - art showing an interest in and sensi...more I met Molly Gloss when I was in high school in Eastern Oregon, the setting for her beautiful novel, The Jump-off Creek. She was a local hero for the simple reason that she wrote about our world, our hills, our familiar tamarack forests and sagebrush, our quiet people and the lives they lead. In a state best known for Portland and the accessibility of natural wonder to the urban I-5 corridor, it was a refreshing bit of acknowledgment to see real - published! - art showing an interest in and sensitivity to the rural eastern expanse of the state.

Not to wax too nostalgic: I didn't like growing up there. To me, the hills were beautiful, boring boundaries carefully dividing my sheltered little town from the weird, varied world I knew existed outside the valley. People were mean, and small-minded, and often simple and hateful. I was mocked until I got too strange, and then I was just feared; stupid, superficial things like purple hair and noserings became metaphysical symbols of all that the down-home culture despised, and they made damn sure I knew it.

It is odd, then, that a book like this should come along - a tender, honest portrait of a small community in Eastern Oregon, not directly inside the valley where I lived, but near by a county or two, which in rural terms means practically the same place - and completely break my heart. Never have I had so much longing for a thing I never loved.

First of all, don't judge a book by its cover. No, really. Never in a thousand years would I have chosen to read something with a golden sunset and a girl-on-horseback silhouette. Hell, I even try to avoid anything with the word "heart" in the title, unless it's closely followed by "darkness." If you can't get past it, I recommend wrapping the book in a plain brown wrapper and pushing on through, because if you don't, you will miss one of the more interesting examinations of small-town life, and with it, a young female hero demonstrating perfectly that role models don't need to be princesses, warriors, or ravishingly beautiful to be strong and, more importantly, real.(less)

9 likes · like · see review

Jan 06, 2010 Donna Jo Atwood rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Donna Jo by: Lorie Hyten

Shelves: 2009-10-winter-challenge, animals, family, fiction, historical-fiction, horses, world-war-i-fiction, audio-book

This is an absolutely amazing book. It takes place over a six month period from the fall of 1917 through the spring of 1918 in cattle country in Oregon. It's a wonderful story of a shy young woman, more at home with horses than people, who comes into the valley to offer to break horses for various farmers and ranchers. And, of course, it is the story of those ranchers and farmers that she meets.
Even with the background of the war and of the surfacing of human meanness, this is a gentle book--and...more

4 likes · like · see review

Jul 16, 2008 Tattered Cover Book Store added it

Shelves: staff-recommends, chris-c-recommends, mpiba-winter-08-09-catalog, from-the-indienext-list

I never would have looked twice at this book, had I not heard the author speak at MPIBA. Her speech, though it had nothing to do with the book, was impressive enough (and I heard enough people saying they couldn't put the book down) that I had to give it a chance. If the following description doesn't sound like your normal cup of tea, just know that it isn't mine, either. And yet.

The story takes place in the American West at the beginning of the first World War, when the young men were just star...more

2 likes · like · see review

Jan 03, 2008 Suzanne added it

Jul 29, 2009 Ryan Jay rated it 1 of 5 stars

Molly Gloss certainly did a lot of research for this book. I have no doubt that she could actually write a fairly in-depth non-fiction work that deals with life in the western US states at this time. The only problem is that she seems unable to incorporate her exhaustive research into this work of fiction. The facts are never really part of the story, the narrator just tells the reader, as though they were reading a text book when the story of a girl breaking horses got a little dull for them. A...more

1 like · like · see review

May 05, 2008 Felicity rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: pacific-mfa-faculty, signed, western-usa, historical-fiction, fiction, novel, grad-school

Well, it's been proven: you can still write a novel with an omniscient narrator. I don't pretend that setting it in the historical past (the U.S. homefront during WWI) doesn't help, but it can obviously still be done, and done well.

Apart from settling that debate, The Hearts of Horses is an enjoyable read, more page-turning than its quiet, even-tempered tone would initially give you cause to guess. It may prompt you to chuckle in company, and, when pressed, explain lamely, "Just horses being hor...more

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Dec 30, 2007 Jenny O rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: women who dreamed of being cowgirls

I know it's a cliche to love horses when you're a twelve-year-old girl, but I did. After reading this book, I'm suddenly interested in horseback riding again. It's a beautiful story of independence and the connections that knit together families and communities. The writing is restrained, which fits with the setting nicely. I did skip over some of the description, but this book totally nails that fierce fear of loss that comes right along with love. It may have been more of a constant threat liv...more

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Apr 10, 2012 Beth Cato rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: in, 2010, literary, fiction, historical, horse

As the United States enters World War I, the final remnants of the Old West can still be found in eastern Oregon. Nineteen-year-old Martha Lessen rides into Elwha County with a string of horses and a dream of making her way as a horse gentler. In ranch and farm country depleted of young men heading off to war, Martha finds an unusual niche as she begins making her rounds training horses in a circuit. Her unusual garb and ways with horses are a spectacle to behold, but slowly, Martha's soothing w...more

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Jun 06, 2012 Carla Perry rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is another great book by Molly Gloss. The writing style is straightforward, spare, totally unassertive, which is in keeping with the main character’s temperament. Martha Leeson is a 19 year old girl, coming down out of the hills of remote Eastern Oregon, dressed like a wild west rodeo rider with fringed chaps, riding a horse with no ears and burned flesh, leading two other horses. She’s looking for work breaking horses to a saddle. She gets hired on by George Bliss and prefers to make a pla...more This is another great book by Molly Gloss. The writing style is straightforward, spare, totally unassertive, which is in keeping with the main character’s temperament. Martha Leeson is a 19 year old girl, coming down out of the hills of remote Eastern Oregon, dressed like a wild west rodeo rider with fringed chaps, riding a horse with no ears and burned flesh, leading two other horses. She’s looking for work breaking horses to a saddle. She gets hired on by George Bliss and prefers to make a place for herself in their barn rather than live indoors. Soon she’s doing a horse-breaking circle, turning 14 wild horses into tame ones. She works with each horse a few days, then goes onto the next homestead/ranch to do the same with their horses. Then, she begins riding them, keeping two to a homestead corral, getting them used to saddle and rider, feathers, wires, cans attached and dragging behind so that nothing scares them. It takes a few months, but all the horses are saddle-broke and returned to their original owners. Meanwhile, this shy but determined girl has found love with an non-handsome worker on one of the homestead ranches, instigated the firing of a cruel man when he whipped one of her horses, helped the neighbors through deaths, drunkenness, and emergencies. It is the winter of 1917 and the war in Europe against the Germans is heating up. There’s a lot of anti-German sentiment, even violence. Local boys enlist and 3 million horses were shipped overseas. She finds community away from her abusive home life. The book rushes to the end after Martha marries. – Martha is 65 years old when she finds out that of the three million horses shipped overseas, one million died before arrival. The surviving horses were butchered for food for the starving refugees when the war ended. It made her cry. This book gave me an understanding of how to deal with horses for the first time in my life. Martha Leeson as horse whisperer. I truly finally understood what the “heart of horses” is about.(less)

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Apr 18, 2011 Mila rated it 5 of 5 stars

What a surprise! The cover is so off-putting, along with the title, that if it hadn't been given to me from the library just before I got on a plane with nothing else to read I probably wouldnt have looked at it twice. It's fabulous! There is none of the sappy, over emotionalized nonsense you might expect from a book about a woman who gentles horses in the early years of WWI. Instead, it's very well-written, with deep, extremely real characters in whom humanity truly exists. Molly Gloss takes th...more

2 likes · like · see review

Jul 24, 2010 Gerri Leen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: will-look-for-this-author-again

It's not often an author takes as much time with a story as Molly Gloss does with this one. Don't let the title fool you, this is not a book about horses, despite the heroine of the story being a horse whisperer of sorts. The horses merely transport the plot the same way they did people out West during the lead-up to American involvement "over there" in WWI (a period I haven't read too much about, so I found it really different).

This story is written in omniscient, which I don't see much anymore...more

1 like · like · see review

Jul 14, 2010 Amanda rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: bought-copy, literary

In the winter of 1917, nineteen-year-old Martha Lessen saddles her horses and heads for a remote county in eastern Oregon looking for work "gentling" wild horses. Many of the regular hands are off fighting the war, and though the ranchers are sceptical of Martha's quiet, unconventional methods, it is clear that she has a serious knowledge of horses. Over the long, hard winter, the townsfolk witness Martha talking in low, sweet tones to horses believed beyond repair - and getting miraculous, almo...more In the winter of 1917, nineteen-year-old Martha Lessen saddles her horses and heads for a remote county in eastern Oregon looking for work "gentling" wild horses. Many of the regular hands are off fighting the war, and though the ranchers are sceptical of Martha's quiet, unconventional methods, it is clear that she has a serious knowledge of horses. Over the long, hard winter, the townsfolk witness Martha talking in low, sweet tones to horses believed beyond repair - and getting miraculous, almost immediate results. Ultimately, her gifts will earn her the respect of the men, the friendship of the women, and an indispensable place in the community.

This is a beautiful tale told in a simple manner. The prose is no-nonsense and yet somehow poetic at the same time. It is well worth picking up, even if you have little interest in Westerns or horses.

For me, the particular joy came from individual chapters that seemed to be almost short stories in their own right, telling tales about the ranchers on Martha's 'horse-circle'. Particular tales that touched my heart included Ruth and Tom Kandel (concerning Tom's fight against cancer) and the Thiede's, who are German-born, which becomes an issue as the shadow of World War 1 falls over the county.

Glass writes effectively and without sentiment about the hard lives of the ranchers, many of whom flocked to Oregon in the hopes of making their fortunes. There is heartache, and pathos, and engaging characters on every page.

Glass also offers us a perspective on the world outside the quiet Western county that Martha plies her trade in - Martha finds work because many of the young men have already been drafted into the army. She covers such sensitive topics as racism, terminal illness, and environmental destruction with grace and quiet commentary.

The overwhelming impression of this novel is peace: we drift into the tale with Martha's arrival in the county, spend some time with her as the shy young girl falls into a new life, and then drift away. It is an uncomplicated and ephemeral look at a long-gone time from history. (less)

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Feb 17, 2010 Sally added it Recommends it for: yes

Recommended to Sally by: book club

It takes place in the earl 1900's and a young gal leaves home to travel and had a gift and love for horses. So, she decided to make her living by breaking horses in her very gentle wise way. She was like the horse whisperer. She was also a very quiet naive gal but she really did become loved by all the members of th town. It was a very difficult way of life and thre was much hard work and struggle for many residents from day to day. I thought a particular scene was very touching. A young father...more

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Jul 08, 2009 Michaelsean rated it 5 of 5 stars

I recently finished The Hearts of Horses by Molly Gloss and have been slow to getting around to reviewing it. The book is set early in the 20th century in the Central Oregon area. The story revolves around Martha Lessen, a female horse whisperer of sorts. While many of the regions are off preparing for war in Europe, Martha plies her trade as a horse gentler in the remote parts of Oregon.

First off, the book is certainly well written. As the plot unfolds Martha establishes a circle ride where she...more

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Feb 05, 2009 Dana Stabenow rated it 4 of 5 stars

I'd call this book almost a sequel to Monte Walsh by Jack Schaefer, and I consider Monte Walsh one of the perfect novels. The writing is superb, in that run-on raconteur style that feels like the easy canter of a horse. It's 1917, and young Martha Leeson leaves home to become an itinerant bronco buster, only she's a horse whisperer instead and she doesn't get that far from home, either.

This book works on so many levels, I hardly know where to begin. It's a book about World War I at home, it's a...more

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Feb 05, 2009 Bookmarks Magazine added it

Molly Gloss's affecting fourth novel turns the Western genre on its head with a woman as the mysterious stranger appearing on horseback, but Gloss is known for her independent, self-sufficient heroines. The Hearts of Horses is perhaps the most sentimental of all her works. Though the plot is more a collection of linked stories than a single, continuous narrative

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Mar 23, 2011 Nancy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: western-us, historical-fiction, 20th-century, war, women, horses, romance

****1/2
I chose this book to read because the theme of a woman horse whisperer intrigued me. What I didn’t expect, was such a thorough history of life in the west during World War One. I was familiar with women’s roles in WW II, Rosie the Riveter, etc., but had never given much thought to how women took over men’s roles during the previous war—girls who substituted for men doing ranch work were called Land Girls. The Dust Bowl and Great Depression that followed these years, was in part caused by...more ****1/2
I chose this book to read because the theme of a woman horse whisperer intrigued me. What I didn’t expect, was such a thorough history of life in the west during World War One. I was familiar with women’s roles in WW II, Rosie the Riveter, etc., but had never given much thought to how women took over men’s roles during the previous war—girls who substituted for men doing ranch work were called Land Girls. The Dust Bowl and Great Depression that followed these years, was in part caused by the ranchers plowing up their grazing land to grow wheat for the war effort, often using what they called automobile plows (tractors).

There was much to learn about horses, both good and bad. I was shocked to learn of the fate of horses sent overseas for use in the war. And, I was interested in the various training techniques such as use of the hackamore, which I’d never heard of before (it’s a certain type of headgear without a bit). Along with the information about a gentler way of breaking horses and the history lesson, Gloss tells what life was like for the people of that era. As Martha Lessen, the young female bronco buster, rides the circuit training her horses, we learn about the families she encounters. The description of Tom Kandel’s dying of cancer, the helplessness of his wife Ruth, the fear of his boy Fred who avoids his father, the bewilderment of Martha who comes upon the scene unexpectedly, and the pure exhaustion of the country doctor, is profoundly and beautifully written, if such a thing can be described as beautiful.

Gloss also gives her heroine a love interest, building the relationship subtly in a sweet and romantic way which was quite refreshing, especially when compared with more explicit ‘romantic’ novels. Okay, so thus far we have a heroine who knows horses, and a novel that reveals an important part of our country’s history. What more could a reader want? Maybe a heroine who loves books? Martha’s first employer’s wife, Louise, finds her reading “Black Beauty,” and when Martha tells her that whenever she’s not working she has to have something to read, Louise loans her a stack of books.

The only thing that kept me from giving this book a five star rating, was the summing up of everything at the end. It was just a little too tidy—but a great read none-the-less!
(less)

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Sep 11, 2011 Mollie rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is the third novel in The Best Contemporary Women's Fiction: Six Novels (such a steal on the Kindle), and the one I have enjoyed the most, though I wouldn't call it the best of anything. I really, really like the voice - it reads like it was written years ago, by a (very mellow) cowboy. There is quite a lot of horse talk in it, which I have no interest in, and don't really understand, but which, surprisingly, I quite enjoyed in this book. Miss Lessen is a wonderful character; I have a lovel...more

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Mar 06, 2010 Donna rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010-books, source-booksale, genre-fiction, source-booksale-2010

I LOVED this book. It is a wonderfully quiet story of life in a remote fictional Oregon county during WWI. This era seems to be greatly overlooked by writers - there's an abundance of WWII stories, but little about WWI.

The main character of the book, Martha Lessen, is a young, gifted horse trainer trying to make the grade in a man's world. Her methods of horse gentling as opposed to bucking a horse out, raises eyebrows, but she wins hearts over when she soon gets amazing results with animals gi...more

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Sep 19, 2012 Lj Neame rated it 5 of 5 stars

I started this book with no expectations at all, not being a horse person, don't like westerns, and a bit put off by the cover blurb of a female horse whisperer. Instead, I got a pragmatic, straightforward narrative of life in eastern Oregon during the first world war, told from the perspective of a young woman earning her living on a "horse circuit"' travelling from ranch to ranch gentling horses to the saddle. There is an episodic flavor to the narrative as the author twines together the stori...more

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Feb 26, 2010 Debbie rated it 3 of 5 stars

I don't often read "horse" books anymore, but this one captured my attention as it takes place in Oregon...during World War I. 19 year old Martha Leesen is a "horse whisperer" and is trying to earn a living while many of the men are off fighting. She arrives at the ranch of George and Louise Bliss and asks for a job breaking the horses that so far have seemed unbreakable. She does that with soft words and encouragement instead of hobbles.

Martha has her own problems of course, which Louise sees...more

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Feb 12, 2013 Kay rated it 5 of 5 stars

I really like this author and only read this, her first book, recently. It made me swoon with pleasure and I gobbled up every word. I definitely recommend it for women who have always held horses in their hearts. Although I was never one of those little girls, I grew up with a cousin who was a horsey girl, and I now have granddaughters who are quite "into" horses. The book takes place around the early 1900's in the wilds of eastern Oregon. It follows a raw-boned but tender young woman who exists...more

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May 25, 2009 J rated it 5 of 5 stars

Martha Lessen is a nineteen year old tomboy escaping the reach of an abusive father and brother in 1917 Northeastern Oregon. The abuses she suffered do not come to the front of the story much, they are not what the book is about, but they frame the decisions that Martha makes, such as wanting to become a 'broncobuster' who does not bust her horses. She believes that she can gentle almost any horse with kindness, firmness, and consistency, and without breaking their will.

Martha comes to a small...more

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Jun 28, 2012 Beadyjan rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: historical

This review also features on my book blog http://beadyjansbooks.blogspot.co.uk/

What a delightful, charming story. I was captivated by the story told by Martha Lessen a young woman who sets out in Oregon in 1917 to make her living as a horse breaker. Shy but determined, gentle but strong, her unsentimental love for and skill with horses ensures that she soon finds work on the remote settlements in this bleak yet beautiful part of America.

Its a simple story, yet really kept me turning the pages, i...more

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Apr 03, 2011 Ruth Sims rated it 4 of 5 stars

When I was a kid I read every horse story in print and I remember especially Black Beauty (of course) and the books of Will James. Hearts of Horses is the same kind of book. The language is as simple as a pair of leather chaps, and the lead character of Martha is as quiet and soft-spoken, determined and brave, as any character Jimmy Stewart ever played--and almost as tall. It's a Western, but not a bang-bang shoot-em-up Western. It's about a young woman (though she's constantly and a little anno...more

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Feb 07, 2012 Kellie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Martha sets out from a home she wants to put in her past to a wanderers life that she thinks she wants. She has not had closeness at home and doesn't expect it as she travels looking for work "breaking" horses, or perhaps a better word would be "gentling" horses. The story is not just about a girl with a talent for taming horses, but about a girl who learns what family really is.
The story began with the introductions to the characters in each chapter and you grow to love each as an important pa...more

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Nov 06, 2011 Robin Nolet rated it 3 of 5 stars

This was a wonderful story that was also an education on the nature of a horses character and their sensitive nature. The tale follows a female horse whisperer-although that's not what they call her-she's just someone who understands horses-as she seeks a new and better life for herself in the early years of the 20th century. WWI is on the edges of the story, but the location is the pacific northwest. Very good almost to the end-either skip the last few pages about her later life, or be prepared...more

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Dec 19, 2010 Laurie rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is a sweet, but not sentimental story about life in the Eastern Oregon mountains in 1917. The backdrop to the story is gentling horses, but to me the book was about valuing, nurturing, and cherishing others who come into our lives, both animal and human, and about living in a world that inflicts painful wounds and loss, and helping each other to go forward with grace and dignity. Molly Gloss wrote The Hearts of Horses after losing her husband to cancer. One of the less prominent characters...more

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Jan 16, 2008 Chalet rated it 4 of 5 stars

Based on the title and cover, I would never have picked up this book if it hadn't been so highly recommended by a trustworthy friend. Don't be put off by the hokey Lonesome Dove cover--this book is completely engrossing.

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Dec 21, 2011 Tracey M rated it 5 of 5 stars

I got this book from our library's Friends sale for $1 or $2 and was pleasantly surprised! I read this book in less than a week (for a book just shy of 300 pages, that's quick for me as a mother of an active toddler) and I really enjoyed the story.

The main character in the book, Martha, is talented in gentling horses with methods which are unconventional for this time period. As she rides the "circle" - going from ranch to ranch each day riding these green horses, I loved seeing how her life bec...more

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About Molly Gloss

Molly Gloss is a fourth-generation Oregonian who lives in Portland.

Her novel The Jump-Off Creek was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award for American Fiction, and a winner of both the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award and the Oregon Book Award. In 1996 Molly was a recipient of a Whiting Writers Award.

The Dazzle of Day was named a New York Times Notable Book and was awarded the PEN Center We...more

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