Das silberne Pferd

by Kate Thompson

As he rides along the unknown green lane, Michael finds a brief respite from the pressures of school and his family's horse-dealing business. At the end of the lane he meets Annie, who brings colour and warmth into his troubled life. But is she, as she believes herself to be, bad luck?





Between her home and Michael's lies Annan Water, a deep and mysterious river. In its dark past, it seems as though the story of their love for each other might already have been told.

Genres: Young Adult

Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

Kate Thompson is an award-winning writer for children and adults.She has lived in Ireland, where many of her books are set, since 1981. She is the youngest child of the social historians and peace activists E. P. Thompson and Dorothy Towers. She worked with horses and travelled in India before settling in the west of Ireland with her partner Conor. They have two daughters, Cliodhna and Dearbhla. She is an accomplished fiddler with an interest in Irish traditional music, reflected in The New Policeman.

While Kate Thompson's children's fiction is primarily fantasy, several of her books also deal with the consequences of genetic engineering.

She has won the Bisto Children's Book of the Year Award four times, for The Beguilers, The Alchemist's Apprentice, Annan Water and The New Policeman. The New Policeman was also awarded the Guardian Children's Fiction Prize, the Whitbread Children's Book Award and the Dublin Airport Authority Children's Book of the Year Award for 2005.

Reviews

[Nic]

A harrowing finish.

[Deirdre]

Interesting modernised take on a traditional folksong. Two teens deal with their issues by throwing themselves into the world of horses and horse jumping. Michael is trying to deal with the loss of his sister and home while his friend Annie has serious home issues.

I found it largely unsatisfying, the two teens never really came to life for me and the story felt forced into the song rather than flowing from it. Not a bad read but didn't leave me happy with the story and to be brutally honest the end left me feeling like it was tacked on.

[Lee]

Not that impressed really. I felt the story was just starting to get really good when it finished. A bit Meh! to be honest.

[Michelle Moloney]

I read this book over a year ago. I have read about 100 since, and yet, I still think of Annan Water daily.

[Anna Snyder]

Simple but poignant story, and I appreciate how it pulled back from the gloom at the last possible moment. I've been reading too many gloomy books of late.