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The Horse from the Sea
When fourteen-year-old Nora Donovan hears that Spanish soldiers may be sailing near the west coast of Ireland, she never expects that one of their ships will actually crash on the shore next to her home. Helping to clear the wreckage, Nora discovers a beautiful white stallion, injured and lost. Nora boldly leads the horse to a nearby cave and nurses him back to health. But hiding in the cave is one of the soldiers. He's also injured, very young, and wanted by the English army. Nora wants to help the boy get home safely, but she'll have to risk everything -- including the magnificent stallion.
320 pages, Library Binding
First published April 26, 2005
3 people are currently reading
102 people want to read
About the author
Victoria Holmes
12 books88 followersVictoria "Vicky" Holmes comes up with the ideas for the New York Times Bestselling Warriors books, consisting of four miniseries: Warriors, Warriors: The New Prophecy, Warriors: Power of Three, and Warriors: Omen of the Stars, written by Kate Cary, Cherith Baldry, and new addition Tui Sutherland under the pen name Erin Hunter, and published by HarperCollins. Holmes creates the plots, then Cary, Baldry, and Sutherland write the stories. Holmes is also in charge of maintaining series continuity and making sure that there's a consistent "voice" across the books.
Victoria grew up on a farm in England, where she learned to write at the age of two. She enjoyed reading and writing stories of her own when she had the time. She studied English at the University of Oxford, where the ancient buildings and sense of tradition inspired an interest in history. Victoria now works in London as a children's book editor and escapes to the English countryside whenever she can to ride horses and walk her dog, Missy.
Victoria is also the author of the books Rider in the Dark, published in 2004; The Horse from the Sea, published in 2005; and Heart of Fire, published in 2006.
Victoria grew up on a farm in England, where she learned to write at the age of two. She enjoyed reading and writing stories of her own when she had the time. She studied English at the University of Oxford, where the ancient buildings and sense of tradition inspired an interest in history. Victoria now works in London as a children's book editor and escapes to the English countryside whenever she can to ride horses and walk her dog, Missy.
Victoria is also the author of the books Rider in the Dark, published in 2004; The Horse from the Sea, published in 2005; and Heart of Fire, published in 2006.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
October 13, 2012
Sehr kreative Rechtschreibung. Ihre Stimme "Clang" rau? Und das Feuer "flacKerte"? Ja, beide Fälle finden sich mehrmals im Buch. Ich frage mich, wie so etwas bei einem rennomierten Verlag passieren kann, denn dass man "klang" nicht mit C schreibt und Großschreibung mitten im Wort ein Unding ist, sollte jedem mittelmäßig begabten Grundschüler bekannt sein. Schwere Enttäuschung allein schon in dieser Hinsicht, die Geschichte konnte da nicht mehr viel retten. Nora scheint zärtlichere Gefühle gegenüber dem Ross als für José zu hegen und benimmt sich entsprechend. Was, der Kerl hat eine Wunde am Oberschenkel? Egal, versorgen wir erstmal das Pferd.
Der Roman konnte mich auf ganzer Linie weder erreichen noch mitreißen. Die 2 Sterne gibt's für den historischen Hintergrund, der ganz nett mit eingeflochten ist.
Der Roman konnte mich auf ganzer Linie weder erreichen noch mitreißen. Die 2 Sterne gibt's für den historischen Hintergrund, der ganz nett mit eingeflochten ist.
October 5, 2012
I liked this one cause it's set in Ireland but I didn't like it as much as "Rider in the Dark"; it was kinda slow moving and I didn't like all the fairy superstitious stuff, buuuut it was still a fun read. :)
September 9, 2019
[Written: January 17, 2006] | [Edited: September 09, 2019]
"The Horse From the Sea", is a beautifully written story by Victoria Holmes. The way the story is written really draws you into the world of Ireland and Nora love for horses. The description of Horse behavior is excellently drawn out, making envisioning the animal very easy. The story line for the book was well thought out and thankfully didn't turn out to be another "young adventurous girl defies her family to save [insert objects/person here]" scenario, because I wouldn't have read it otherwise.
The chapters are not too lengthy to my great delight and explain pretty much what they were meant to do without losing the focus on the certain moment. The large variety of characters, spanning from the Irish, Spanish, and English Army characters were very fascinating in the term of the word. None of them ever felt dull or boring, or just some plot device to move Nora, Jose, and Lir's story along through the book. Jose was probably the most interesting male character in this story.
He lacked the usual stereotypical male dominance, arrogance, and self-assured personality I've seen in many male characters in books. The emotion of the story can be felt near the very end of the book, when Jose, Lir and Nora part ways once the objective is achieved. But all in all, The Horse from the sea is an enjoyable read I would recommend to anyone.
"The Horse From the Sea", is a beautifully written story by Victoria Holmes. The way the story is written really draws you into the world of Ireland and Nora love for horses. The description of Horse behavior is excellently drawn out, making envisioning the animal very easy. The story line for the book was well thought out and thankfully didn't turn out to be another "young adventurous girl defies her family to save [insert objects/person here]" scenario, because I wouldn't have read it otherwise.
The chapters are not too lengthy to my great delight and explain pretty much what they were meant to do without losing the focus on the certain moment. The large variety of characters, spanning from the Irish, Spanish, and English Army characters were very fascinating in the term of the word. None of them ever felt dull or boring, or just some plot device to move Nora, Jose, and Lir's story along through the book. Jose was probably the most interesting male character in this story.
He lacked the usual stereotypical male dominance, arrogance, and self-assured personality I've seen in many male characters in books. The emotion of the story can be felt near the very end of the book, when Jose, Lir and Nora part ways once the objective is achieved. But all in all, The Horse from the sea is an enjoyable read I would recommend to anyone.
October 23, 2015
Nora Donovan is a 14-year-old Irish lass whose story takes place in 1588. The thing she loves most is being with the wild mountain ponies. Throughout the village, Nora is well known for spending more time with the ponies than with humans.
The story quickly shifts from a grand party at Aughnanure Castle to a despairing scene at the beach where a Spanish ship has wrecked. Not much survived from the ship, but Nora found the biggest prize: a tall, Andalusian stallion. She also finds something else… a drowning sailor from the wrecked ship. Nora is forced into deciding on something hard. If she helps this young, stranded sailor, how much danger is she putting herself into? Even her own family is afraid of the Spanish sailors. By telling them what she found, she would be endangering her entire family's safety. So she keeps it all a secret.
The story soon melts into a huge, furtive journey that Nora did not plan on taking. It involves some scheming, escaping, sword-fighting, and especially, it entails horse riding.
One thing to mention: Throughout the book, Nora's family and other villagers talk of "little green fairies" and a "sea god" and other similar, minor, old Irish beliefs. To me, these references somewhat enhanced the story to make it seem more true to that time period. Also, you might learn a few new Irish words!
Overall, it was an exhilarating tale that I enjoyed. Recommended for ages 10-15.
The story quickly shifts from a grand party at Aughnanure Castle to a despairing scene at the beach where a Spanish ship has wrecked. Not much survived from the ship, but Nora found the biggest prize: a tall, Andalusian stallion. She also finds something else… a drowning sailor from the wrecked ship. Nora is forced into deciding on something hard. If she helps this young, stranded sailor, how much danger is she putting herself into? Even her own family is afraid of the Spanish sailors. By telling them what she found, she would be endangering her entire family's safety. So she keeps it all a secret.
The story soon melts into a huge, furtive journey that Nora did not plan on taking. It involves some scheming, escaping, sword-fighting, and especially, it entails horse riding.
One thing to mention: Throughout the book, Nora's family and other villagers talk of "little green fairies" and a "sea god" and other similar, minor, old Irish beliefs. To me, these references somewhat enhanced the story to make it seem more true to that time period. Also, you might learn a few new Irish words!
Overall, it was an exhilarating tale that I enjoyed. Recommended for ages 10-15.
November 1, 2011
Such a heart warming tale of s girl and a horse she found in the sea. In Ireland, a Spanish galleon crashed on the shores of Ireland. Nora, a 14 year old Irish girl went down to shore to check it out. There, she found a injured 15 or 16 year old Spanish soldier named Jose and a beautiful shipwrecked Spanish horse whom Nora named him Lir after the Irish sea god, Manannan Mac Lir. Nora leaves her home to help Jose and Lir get back to Spain on another ship they heard that's going to Spain. Together, the trio face dangers and adventures. Will they make it in time before the ship leaves?
October 24, 2012
I really did like this book. The only problem I had with it was that I had to wait until about half of the book for things to really start to get interesting. I think if the author had added a little more excitement, I would have given it five stars. I also love horses so that was another reason it is getting 4 stars. I really recommend this book to people who are interested in history and people who like horses.
January 5, 2013
I loved all the plot points in this one, but especially the focus on horses. I really love how she made the time period come alive, because the farther off present day books go, the less excited I am to read them - so it's always a pleasant surprise when they turn out vibrant and engaging.
February 29, 2008
You can do anything if you put your mind to it.
February 5, 2011
so sweet. awwwww. how cute. I'm running out of things to say.
May 26, 2011
this definatly was a seet and cute book. And it has horses, MY kind of book!
June 6, 2011
it says on the cover "an epic horse story". I thoroughly enjoyed the story, but I wouldn't call it epic.
October 5, 2011
The end killed it, otherwise it would be one of my fav books of all time.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews