Moon Filly

Silver Brumby #5

by Elyne Mitchell

Wurring, almost a yearling, and the image of his great sire Winganna, is a golden chestnut with a mane and tail the color of living light of the sun. When Winganna brings a hauntingly beautiful mare and her filly foal to the herd, Wurring is drawn to the tiny filly despite himself. When the beautiful mare dies, only Wurring has the courage to approach the orphan. He calls her Ilinga because she has come from far away. She becomes his shadow, to the envy of the other foals. Where is she from? As she grows, she becomes more and more beautiful, glowing with the beauty of the moon, and it becomes obvious that her dead mother must have been of great value. What happens when an ugly and mean iron grey stallion comes looking for what he has lost? Is Ilinga's and Wurring's love for each other enough for them to overcome the odds? What of the legend that say that before the moon and sun can be together, the light of sun must almost be extinguished?

Genres: Animals, Horses, Childrens, Fiction, Animal Fiction, Audiobook, Fantasy

141 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1968

About the author

Elyne Mitchell is an Australian author best known for her Silver Brumby children's series, which tells the story of brumbies that roamed the Snowy Mountains in the Australian Alps, in particular a pale brumby named Thowra.

In 1988, she was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for her services to literature, as well as an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from Charts Sturt University in 1993.

Reviews

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had the paperback in the 1990s. I either sold it or gave it away, and I have no intention of replacing it. I don't even want to read it again.

This is a dense, slow, repetitive book about a brumby in Australia. Now, a book about a wild horse (or feral, whatever) I'm often over the moon for (pun intended) but this just wasn't very good. I have no idea why Elyne Mitchell is so popular.

The brumbies are a very sad subject in general. If you have no idea why, do yourself a favor and DON'T Google it.

[Hannah · Rating 2 out of 5]

The lack of dialogue made this a rather dull read when compared to the previous, exciting and action-packed Brumby books. However, if you're planning to go on to Silver Brumby Whirlwind and Son of the Whirlwind, then Moon Filly is a necessary read in order to understand the background behind the Yuri, the moon filly that Thowra claims.

[Mya · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars

A departure from the family of Thowra. Also a bit of a departure from the style of the rest of the series so far. It's a more romantic / poetic form of story telling. I think I prefer the other style but I'm sure it will appeal to others. As always, the most important parts are still present: the wild Brumbies of the outback.

[Pip Snort · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is probably the least anthropomorphised of Elyne Mitchell's Silver Brumby books and is written in a more lyrical style. Neither of those things made it less beautiful, but it was a bit less accessible and engaging than her other books.

[Samuel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found the book a bit confusing. I will reread it one day.

[Bethan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book so much ❤️

[Joanna Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

What I liked about this book is how different it was from the other Brumby stories that Elyne Mitchell wrote. Here, the titular character and the main protagonist is Moon Filly, Ilinga, who comes from a unique, beautiful breed of horses (I am assuming Arabians). The story opens up when Winganna the chestnut lead stallion of a brumby herd, brings Ilinga and her dam to his family. The mysterious mother of the tiny filly dies and the yearling son of Winganna named Wurring, who represents the sun in this story, becomes drawn to the tiny filly. He nudges her over to his dam and they grow up together. It is Wurring that names her Ilinga because she has come from far. However, when an iron-grey stallion (the previous band stallion of Ilinga's mother) comes looking for his prized mare, the situation takes a dramatic turn. He notices Ilinga who has grown into a beauty and drives her away, much to Wurring's dismay, who has fallen in love with her. Although, essentially, the reader is tricked to believe that it's Wurring who heroically sets out to rescue his beloved, (and at some point, that is exactly what happens) ultimately, Ilinga is the true hero of this story. She practically proves her capability and wit without needing help from anyone. She outsmarts the mean-spirited grey stallion on numerous occasions and escapes from his grasps on her own. It is Wurring who gets injured, captured and is held by the iron-grey as a hostage in hopes of luring the Moon Filly back to him. This does not scare the courageous, determined and loyal, Ilinga as she sets out to find her beloved Wurring. Her journey is interesting as she struggles to discover her origins, deal with couple of stallions who want her for their herds and her never-ending search for her soul mate. Wurring, meanwhile, has to face his own struggles as a hostage of a mean-spirited stallion. And even though, you cannot help but root for our sun and the moon, there's also another character that kind of won my heart. A young, gentle, brown stallion who silently falls in love with Ilinga and follows her on her tireless journey. Granted, he wants her for himself at first, but he proves to be a sweet, caring and supportive friend throughout. Overall, this book was extremely refreshing to read. Here, we see the strength and fearlessness of a young mare Ilinga, who does not require saving and is fully independent and clever on her own. Very unlike Kunama (the Silver Brumby's Daughter) who is also the female protagonist of her book, but she constantly requires protection from her father, her mate and so on. Ilinga is nothing like that. She is a different and exciting character with a touch of mystery about her. She is the true hero of this book! Out of all the mares Elyne Mitchell wrote about, Ilinga is definitely my favorite.

[Clare O'Beara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful tale of the wild horses of south-east Australia. The title is not so well known as some of Mitchell's others simply because it is not about the silver brumby Thowra. However in my view it is a book to rival any of the series for horse lovers.

Wurring (meaning sun) is the son of a stallion called Winganna (also meaning sun) and a bright golden chestnut like his sire. One night Winganna returns to the brumby herd from a journey, with a strange dark mare who has a dark foal at foot. The mare is clearly ill or injured and at the dark of the moon she lies down and dies. Wurring can't bear to see the lonely little filly so he nudges her over to his own dam who rears them together. He names the filly Ilinga (meaning comes from far away) and they grow up, gallop and play with the other youngsters.

Only when a strange stallion comes along and spots the handsome filly Ilinga has grown into, and notices how her coat ripples in the moonlight, does Wurring find that Ilinga's dam was from a rare breed known as mares of the moon. Too late, he discovers his love for the moon filly; she has been driven away by the older horse. Desperately he follows through the bush, unsure if he is strong enough to win her back.

Mitchell is a beautiful writer and this carefully constructed tale draws on sun and moon symbolism as well as the wildlife of the bush to bring us a touching romance coupled with adventure. Any young person should love it and a horse lover could read it at any age.
Read this before Silver Brumby Whirlwind, as Wurring and Ilinga reappear in that book. Their story is complete by itself however and I just regret that Mitchell did not write more about these two.

[Brit McCarthy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Elyne Mitchell has a wonderful way of bringing to life the magical high country in the minds of those who have never seen it, and causing those who have (such as myself) to recall fond memories of the bush. The imagery she creates means that you never have time to ponder upon the fact that in this entire novel, revolving around the two beautiful brumbies (wild Australian horses, to the uninformed) Wurring and Ilinga, there is no dialogue. Despite this fact, the reader is still able to connect to the horses and their story, their journey to find each other again.

I felt like I could feel the emotion through the pages and yet it never seemed as if Mitchell had anthropomorphized these creatures, which is an easy mistake to make in any fiction where animals are the main characters, and still create a believable story.

The Silver Brumby stories are Australian favourites for a reason.

3.5 stars.

[annapi · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I was a child, I was crazy for Mitchell's Silver Brumby series, about the wild horses of Australia. I was disappointed to realize that this book was not really of that series, and its story (what little there is of it) is a rehash of ideas she has already used in the series.

It feels like it is written to be a mysterious legend, but while the writing is evocative, she had already done something similar in Silver Brumby Kingdom. In this story, the young golden stallion and the moonlight colored filly who were separated and are looking for each other are the fulfillment of the legend of the meeting of the sun and the moon. Pretty enough, but nothing original in this. I think that even as a child I would have been disappointed.

[Dark-Draco · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book. It's about two young horses, Ilinga and Wurring, who grow up together in the Australian brush. When Ilinga is stolen by a rival stallion, Wurring sets out to find her and so the two begin a long quest to be together once again.

It's beautifully written and, although essentially a love story, it really appealed to me. I think part of it is because the horses never speak - there are no speeches and so the quietness of their world is felt. A lovely story that I wouldn't mind reading again.

[Candace · Rating 2 out of 5]

I own this book, but it was not familiar at all. I possibly never read it more than a couple of times. It is nowhere near as good as the first four books. No silver horses, no talking between animals, and just mystical stuff that was annoying. All that happens is two lost horses trying to find each other and it is boring. I also found the behavior of the horses less believable than her other books.

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Re-read.

I remember when I was younger not liking this one so much as the others and on my re-read I think it must because the horses don't talk to each other like they do in the others, it's implied that they do and they obviously communicate about the matter at hand but it's not shown to us.

The writing style is still beautiful with lovely descriptions of the horses and local wildlife but it's lacks that something that makes me love the others so much.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

My 7 year old loved this as an audio book