The Horses: A poetic and moving story of community and isolation in the wake of a disaster

by Janina Matthewson

384 pages, Paperback

Expected publication January 13, 2026

About the author

Fiction writer and sometime actress from Aotearoa, now based in London.

Co-host of History is Sexy.

Nominated for the International Dublin Literary Award 2016, shortlisted for the BBC Audio Drama Awards 2021, winner Audio Verse Awards 2019, 2020.

Reviews

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sarah lives on the small island community of Black Crag. She is looking forward to leaving and exploring life outside of her isolated community as she makes plans for university. However, she finds all of her hopes and dreams shattered after waking one morning to find the world she lives in changed forever. A severed arm is found on the beach, planes fall from the sky, radios have gone silent and the ferry no longer arrives with much needed supplies. Something has happened over on the mainland but no one knows what and soon the community is divided into those who want to leave to find out what has happened and those who believe it is best to stay hidden from the rest of the world for fear whatever has happened might eventually reach them.

I have read many apocalyptic stories and to be honest I wasn't expecting to like this one. It's a very gentle story lacking in tension or any sort of race against time to fight an unknown threat. Despite this, I flew through this story due to it's well written characters. It's not a story where an awful lot happens in the grand scale of things but it is a very well written tale of what ordinary people find themselves doing in extraordinary situations. It's a story of hope and community and the people we might become when we feel that we might have lost everything. It gives the reader plenty to think about as you find yourself wondering what you might do yourself, to seek answers or to stay with what is familiar and safe.

[Dawn Quixote · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading club read [EOTWRC]: A gentle apocalypse tale, where a remote island community finds out just how much more isolated they can get.
It shows the effects on the island and the community as they are forced to become self-sufficient.
While it is written in the third person, we see most of the story from Sarah's point of view. - teenager originally from the mainland whose plans to return have been dashed by the mysterious disaster.
It felt a little like a YA novel, any horror or terror was short-lived and softened. Even the tale from the mainland was much milder than I expected - I'm not sure I even needed it when it finally came.
It wasn't what I expected but these people grew on me, I cared about them and I was sad to leave them at the end.

[Terri Stokes · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a book which I could not put down, from the very start I was curious to know what had happened on the main land, but also as to why whatever it was had not spread to the small island itself. I liked the characters and their emotions towards their new features, of the unknown of everything.

The way that the author brought the book to a close was perfect too, I really enjoy books like these where there is always room for another book if the author so choses to write, but if there isn't, it also ends in the most perfect place too, leaving you satisfied with either outcome but still holding on to a little curiosity.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

An apocalypse story that's like a warm blanket. A gentle easy read. Not about horses.