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Mare: A Novel
Not yet published
Expected 18 Jul 26The story of a horse and the woman who loves her—a lively first novel of not-daughters and non-mothers; animals and animal bodies; and how we find freedom, care, and community in unexpected places.
For a long time, a woman lives with her husband and their dog. She teaches writing courses, plods away at a book of her own, and doesn’t think much about not having a child. Then the dog dies, and a doctor’s visit reveals her body can’t have children even if she wanted to. Out of these conditions, a sudden, strangely familiar thought horses.
When she hears about a mare whose owner needs help part-time, it seems like an ideal arrangement—and perhaps something to help with the emptiness, diagnosable and otherwise, that she’s begun to feel. She has no problem sharing; she shares a garden with the children next door and chores with her husband. The horse will be something to care for, just two days a week, without getting in too deep.
But as she takes up riding lessons and medical treatments, walks and brushes and dreams of the horse, her affection develops into obsession—forcing her to confront what it means to love a being who does not belong to her. Moving with grace, humor, and probing insight, Emily Haworth-Booth’s Mare pulses with life and feeling and introduces an irresistible literary voice.
For a long time, a woman lives with her husband and their dog. She teaches writing courses, plods away at a book of her own, and doesn’t think much about not having a child. Then the dog dies, and a doctor’s visit reveals her body can’t have children even if she wanted to. Out of these conditions, a sudden, strangely familiar thought horses.
When she hears about a mare whose owner needs help part-time, it seems like an ideal arrangement—and perhaps something to help with the emptiness, diagnosable and otherwise, that she’s begun to feel. She has no problem sharing; she shares a garden with the children next door and chores with her husband. The horse will be something to care for, just two days a week, without getting in too deep.
But as she takes up riding lessons and medical treatments, walks and brushes and dreams of the horse, her affection develops into obsession—forcing her to confront what it means to love a being who does not belong to her. Moving with grace, humor, and probing insight, Emily Haworth-Booth’s Mare pulses with life and feeling and introduces an irresistible literary voice.
1 pages, MP3 CD
Expected publication July 18, 2026
About the author
Emily Haworth-Booth
11 books20 followersLondon-born Emily Haworth-Booth is an award-winning author, illustrator and educator who teaches at the Royal Drawing School in London.
Alongside her children’s picture books, Emily is currently working on a long-form graphic memoir for adults. Her short comics have previously appeared in print in the Observer and Vogue and her first children’s book, The King Who Banned the Dark, was shortlisted for numerous awards including the Klaus Flugge Prize and IBW Book
Awards.
Along with her sister, Alice Haworth-Booth, she is an activist with Extinction Rebellion. The sisters are currently collaborating on Protest!, an illustrated history of peaceful protests from around the world – from 1170 BCE to the present day – which will be published by Pavilion Children's Books in spring 2021.
Alongside her children’s picture books, Emily is currently working on a long-form graphic memoir for adults. Her short comics have previously appeared in print in the Observer and Vogue and her first children’s book, The King Who Banned the Dark, was shortlisted for numerous awards including the Klaus Flugge Prize and IBW Book
Awards.
Along with her sister, Alice Haworth-Booth, she is an activist with Extinction Rebellion. The sisters are currently collaborating on Protest!, an illustrated history of peaceful protests from around the world – from 1170 BCE to the present day – which will be published by Pavilion Children's Books in spring 2021.
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