Falling from Horses

A cowboy turns Hollywood stuntman only to discover the truth behind the silver screen in this “beautiful, moving novel, cut from the American heartwood” (Ursula K. Le Guin). In 1938, the country is moving past the Great Depression, but times are still tough in Oregon. Nineteen-year-old ranch hand Bud Frazer sets out for Hollywood, planning to use his rodeo skills as a stunt rider in the movies—and meet the great screen cowboys he admires. On the long bus ride south, Bud meets a young woman who also harbors dreams of making it in the movies, not as a starlet but as a writer. Lily Shaw is bold and outspoken, more confident than her small frame and bookish looks would seem to allow. The two strike up an unlikely kinship that will carry them through their tumultuous days in Hollywood. Through the wide eyes and lofty dreams of two people trying to make their mark on the world, Molly Gloss weaves a remarkable tale of humans and horses, hope and heartbreak, told in the “matter-of-fact, laconic, utterly authentic-sounding voice” of Bud Frazer himself in this “hypnotic read” (Kirkus).