Vendor
	Fletcher Agency Yona Levin
Original language
English
Categories
Memoirs Equestrian & animal sports Coping with depression & other mood disorders Horses & ponies: general interest

THE YEAR OF THE HORSES

Courtney Maum

A journey out of a depression on horseback, braided with historical portraits of women, horses, and history's attempts to tame both parties.

Courtney is thirty-seven years old when she finds herself in an indoor arena in Connecticut, poised to step back into the saddle. She hasn’t been on or near a horse in over thirty years: this isn’t just a riding lesson, but a last-ditch attempt to pull herself back from the brink, even though riding is a relic of the past she’s walked away from.

Maum knows depression doesn’t have a set face, but she refuses to admit that it could look like her: a woman with a mortgage, a husband, a healthy child, and a published novel. That she feels sadness is undeniable – but she also feels no right to claim it. But when both therapy and medication fail, Courtney returns to her childhood passion of horseback riding, as a way to recover the joy and fearlessness she once had access to as a young girl.

And as she finds her way, once again, through the world of contemporary horseback riding, Courtney becomes reacquainted with herself not only as a rider, but as a mother, wife, daughter, writer, and a woman. Braided through with historical portraits of women and horses and charting history’s attempts to tame both parties, this courageous, timely memoir is a love letter to the power of animals – and humans – to heal the mind and the hear

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Courtney Maum is the author of the novels Costalegre (a GOOP book club pick and one of Glamour Magazine’s top books of the decade), I Am Having So Much Fun Here Without You and Touch (a New York Times Editor’s Choice and NPR Best Book of the Year selection), the popular guidebook Before and After the Book Deal: A writer’s guide to finishing, publishing, promoting, and surviving your first book, and the forthcoming memoir, The Year of the Horses. A nominee for the Joyce Carol Oates Prize, Courtney’s writing has been widely published in such outlets as the New York Times, and O, the Oprah Magazine, and her short story This is Not Your Fault was turned into an Audible Original at Amazon. Courtney is the founder of the artist residency, The Cabins and she privately coaches writers on how to preserve the mystery and joy of the creative process in a culture that wants artists to become brands.

Available products
Book Published by Tin House

Comments

COSTALEGRE
Spanish / Planeta Mexico

TOUCH
Brazil/Portuguese / Record
Dutch / Luitingh Sijthoff
Spanish / Planeta Mexico

In this wry and tender account, novelist Maum (Costalegre) chronicles her attempt to rekindle joy through a return to her childhood love of horseback riding. Three decades after her last ride, Maum was spurred to get back in the saddle when, as a new mother in her mid-30s, she became depressed. “Frequently referred to as a ‘stealth therapy,’ interaction with horses has been known to benefit people,” she writes. “If you aren’t calm, the horse won’t be, either.” She charts her “mental health improvement spree” with sardonic humor and a discerning gaze (upon first meeting her therapist, she laments, “there is no way I can bare my soul to a twentysomething in a Livestrong bracelet”). Meanwhile, despite the “violent” nature of polo, she takes up the sport and rediscovers her sensuality, a liberating contrast to her writing career and struggle to get pregnant again. Interspersed throughout are entertaining morsels of horse culture history—from polo’s contested origins in either China or Persia to the hero’s drowning horse in The NeverEnding Story. While cynics might categorize Maum’s memoir as a midlife crisis story, she resists the label: “When we bang our fists against the bars of middle age, it’s usually because there is a voice within us that is sick to death of going unused.” Her account of recovering that voice is vivid and exuberantly cathartic. (May)

“Searing, lucid, tender and wise, The Year of the Horses is a moving, beautifully-written interrogation into a complicated, privileged childhood and its aftermath. Courtney Maum weaves together the sensory, tactile world of horses and their capacity to heal us, along with one of the most illuminating and powerful depictions of depression I have ever read. Oh, and it’s also a page-turner. I tore through it with immense pleasure.” —Dani Shapiro, author of Inheritance

"Courney Maum writes not from an ideal of who she should be but as she is; it lacks performative overtones or those typical bits where the reader is assured the author is self-aware. No, it’s nothing like that—The Year of the Horses sings like the world actually feels, offering readers permission to be who we are, written by one of the best, a writer’s writer, with a maturity that reveals her decades long devotion to her craft."
—Holly Whitaker, author of Quit Like a Woman: The Radical Choice to Not Drink in a Culture Obsessed with Alcohol

"Courtney Maum dives into her own life with the same fearlessness and honesty that she brings to her fiction. The Year of the Horses is a beautiful, unflinching exploration of darkness and self-forgiveness, terror and tenderness."
—Hala Alyan, author of Salt Houses

"Tender, honest, and beautifully written."
—Kate Baer, #1 Bestselling author of What Kind Of Woman

“Maum is funny: the kind of funny that is mean and dirty, with some good bad words thrown in. And she has a satiric eye for artsy pretension. . . . Enticing.”
– New York Times Book Review
“Here we have the literary beach read — a book that pleases people who read two books a month and people who read two books a year. . . . The situation is timeworn and irresistible. The settings . . . are idyllic escapes, lushly drawn. . . . [Maum] is abundantly gifted — funny, open-hearted, adept at bringing global issues into the personal sphere . . . eventually creating that rare thing: a book for everyone.”
– Washington Post
"Funny, touching and wise about love and vanity, this seductive debut might leave you rethinking some decisions of your own."
– People, People Picks Book of the Week
“A great story about love and marriage . . . Very enchanting, a good beach read.”
– Today Show, Summer's Top Reads
"Maum is not only convincing, but emotionally aggrandizing in her exploration of the challenges of love and marriage. . . . The characters are so identifiable in their cringeable weaknesses and reasonable mistakes, that it is hard not to see oneself in them." —Brooklyn Daily Eagle
“Courtney Maum bursts onto the scene with a hilarious and wise novel. . . . Richard Haddon is one of the more lovable male characters we've encountered this season. . . . You'll find yourself agog at Maum's masterful storytelling and dead-on descriptions.”
– Glamour
“Dry-as-a-bone humor, a realistic marriage with all its pitfalls and joys, artists portrayed as real people instead of caricatures, and France! You don’t need another perfect novel for summer—this is it.” —BookRiot
“Well-written . . . Takes some turns that are both unexpected and entertaining. . . . I won’t be the only reader eagerly awaiting Maum’s next undertaking.”—Roanoke Times
"The dialogue is pointed, witty and direct about sex, art and familial relationships. The characters are perceptive to a fault, and there is plenty of introspection. If nothing else, this fixes the love story in modern times."—Berkshire Eagle
“Filled with humor, as well as painful yearning. There is much heart in Courtney Maum’s page-turning debut novel, making it a terrifically satisfying and memorable read.”
– BookReporter
"A charming and engrossing portrait of one man's midlife mess . . . Smart, fast-paced . . . You come for the plot, but you stay for the characters—especially Maum's flawed but likable and basically well-intentioned hero. Ultimately, this is the story of a man who would do anything to be a better person, and you will avidly wish for him to succeed."
– Elle
"A winning first novel of infidelity, forgiveness, and (maybe, just maybe) falling back in love.”
– O Magazine, 15 Titles to Pick Up Now
“Funny and soulful . . . Filled with wise and revealing insights about the mature rewards embattled marriages provide. . . . [An] immensely appealing novel.”
– The Wall Street Journal
“[An] affably comic take on husbandly comeuppance, Courtney Maum’s I Am Having So Much Fun Here Without You follows a once-sizzling British artist’s hilariously misguided efforts to win back the love of his wife.”
– Vogue
“[A] witty novel about an artist galvanized by the sale of a painting to confront some tough questions about fidelity and marriage. It’s got emotions, humor — and a really great title.”
– The Miami Herald
“Dry-as-a-bone humor, a realistic marriage with all its pitfalls and joys, artists portrayed as real people instead of caricatures, and France! You don’t need another perfect novel for summer–this is it.” —BookRiot
“Her portrait of marriage — much like her view of Paris — is clear-eyed and unsentimental. . . . Maum is hilarious, and the book manages to be cynical and heartfelt at the same time.”
– Arizona Republic
"Need[s] to be in your beach bag."
– Marie Claire
“Courtney Maum kills it.”
– Vanity Fair
“Hit the beach (or the backyard) with [this] can't-put-down novel.”
– New York Daily News
"A very funny comedy of modern manners."
– Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“Maum’s raw honesty about the hard work of long-term relationships, what is said and left unsaid, and her intimate knowledge of Paris make this a bittersweet yet comical read.”
– Minneapolis Star-Tribune
"Maum's witty and insightful novel captures a lifetime of falling in and out of love. It's an investigation of marriage which often combines its utter clear-sightedness and its tremendous warmth in the very same sentence. So agile and fully realized."
– Ned Beauman, author of The Teleportation Accident
“Maum is beautifully clear-eyed about the ways we fail each other and ourselves. . . . Zinging like Lorrie Moore . . . the narrative takes satisfyingly unexpected turns. . . . Rarely is a novel this funny quite so dark, but Maum takes that risk with substantial payoff. . . . This is a novel that remains stubbornly honest and optimistic about love.”
– Brooklyn Rail
"Maum is awesome enough to cop to working as a Corona Extra party promoter in her official author bio, and funny enough to be the humor columnist for Electric Literature. Read this if your vacation plans sadly do not include hanging out with eccentric, upwardly mobile Euros."
– Nylon
"The characters and setting provide delightful fodder. . . . A brutally honest reckoning of the challenges of fidelity and family."
– Nerve
“The giant, thumping heart of Courtney Maum’s debut novel beats loud and fast from its very first pages. . . . With wit and humor, Maum brings Richard’s lopsided love story to life.”
– Bustle.com
“A delicious read that also has a lot to say about contemporary marriage.”
– Flavorwire.com
“Told with cutting wit and deep emotion, this is a heartfelt look at love and fidelity in the contemporary era.”
– Fodors.com, “10 Books to Read on Your Summer Vacation”
“A very charming and romantic book.”
– Buzzfeed, The Ultimate Summer Reading List
Best Book of 2014
– Real Simple
“An honest, staggeringly realized journey . . . Equally funny and touching, the novel strikes deep, presenting a sincere exploration of love and monogamy. These characters are complex, and their story reflects their confusion and desire. . . . An impressive, smart novel.”
– Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Maum’s tale deftly captures a thirtysomething’s sense of grief for the lost passion of youth and the search for something of depth to take its place. Writing with an authentic and affecting vulnerability, Maum considers sentimentality from every possible angle—interpersonal relationships, lofty idealism, and art—and each receives an equally unflinching examination. An unapologetically thoughtful novel told without melodrama and with a lot of heart."
– Booklist
"[A] realistic portrayal of a modern marriage that has lost its way . . . Solid, well-written."
– Library Journal
“Courtney Maum has crafted the story of a relationship so believable, so realistic that readers will be left wondering until the last minute whether the couple will reunite. . . . . The razor-sharp writing and character insights of I Am Having So Much Fun Here Without You suggest that readers have much to look forward to from this talented storyteller.”
– BookPage
"Set mainly in Paris, this love story for grown-ups tells the story of a decent man who almost ruins his life and then goes to great lengths to restore his marriage. If your path to a happy marriage has been straight-forward, you may not appreciate this book – but it’s perfect for the rest of us!"
– LibraryReads
“Sometimes a book's characters grab you by the heart and make you ache with understanding and anticipation. You will laugh, wince, and relate as Maum's debut plunges you into a visceral experience with her characters that is both familiar and agonizing. Love, trust, and creative expression are explored as a French lawyer and a British artist grapple with whether love can be rebuilt after betrayal. Gripping!”
– IndieNext
“This book is such a discovery. . . . It’s kind of a love story in reverse. . . . Really gorgeously written.”
– Leigh Haber, O Magazine Books Editor
"A gem of a novel about the tangles of love, regret, and hope that might or might not hold a marriage together. Courtney Maum's deft, beguiling debut charms with its wit and glows with compassion."
– Maggie Shipstead, author of Seating Arrangements
"Courtney Maum writes with such honesty and verve about how we struggle to deserve the people we love. Intensely personal and engagingly complex, I Am Having So Much Fun Here Without You is a moving, complicated, big-hearted novel."
– Kevin Wilson, author of The Family Fang
"Antic, sexy, satirically deft, and of course funny, this novel is also, on both the personal and political levels, smart about the bottomlessness of our capacities for self-sabotage, and moving about the fierceness of our yearning to make good."
– Jim Shepard, author of You Think That's Bad and Like You'd Understand, Anyway