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Hoofbeats: Lara and the Gray Mare #1
Lara and the Gray Mare
Nine-year-old Lara is the daughter of the r?-the leader of her cattle-raising clan. While she spends her days tending to the cattle, her heart lies with her beloved gray mare. When Lara goes to the highlands to set the cattle out to graze, she finds the mare in the process of a difficult birth. Lara vows to take care of the foal as a dying promise to the gray mare, and with the help of a childless milk-cow, she cares for the spindly-legged filly. But just when she is confident that the foal can survive, a rival clan captures them both, and throws Lara's life into turmoil. When the filly is eventually given to a titled baron in the castle town of Athenry, Lara, determined to stay with the horse no matter what, goes along. Together, she and her beloved horse face seemingly insurmountable challenges, but all along Lara keeps two things in mind. One day, she will manage to flee, and will set off in search of the family that she was taken from. And she will not leave without her silver mare.
Hardcover
First published January 13, 2005
4 people are currently reading
323 people want to read
About the author
Kathleen Duey
157 books361 followersKathleen Duey grew up in Colorado. She loved riding her horses, hiking, being in the mountains. Reading was always important to her. Writing became a fascination early in her life. In the fourth grade, Kathleen began writing stories and told everyone who would listen that she was going to be an author. Then she did nothing about it until she was 35 years old. Writing was her passion and her dream-come-true.
from: fantasticfiction.co.uk
Kathleen died of cardiac arrest at her home in Fallbrook, California. She was 69. She had struggled with dementia in her latter years which prevented her from completing her Skin Hunger trilogy.
https://web.archive.org/web/202101052...
from: fantasticfiction.co.uk
Kathleen died of cardiac arrest at her home in Fallbrook, California. She was 69. She had struggled with dementia in her latter years which prevented her from completing her Skin Hunger trilogy.
https://web.archive.org/web/202101052...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
August 17, 2021
I can see why out of the whole series this was the one I never fnished when I was younger because, well…nothing really happened until the last couple of chapters. It was mainly Lara’s day to day life and hardships which I would have found SO BORING as a kid, but I actually liked as an adult? 🤨 (Is there something wrong with me?) Since I’m fascinated with Ireland and it’s history and lore I think that’s why I found it so interesting this time. Maybe that doesn’t make me weird after all, haha. 🤪
Despite the lack of action and anything happening at first, Lara’s wants and needs are clearly shown which I found really refreshing as MG books tend to ignore this for some reason? But this book did not and I suspect this is why the series has stuck with me for so long even though I haven’t read it in YEARS.
I’m looking forward to rereading the rest of the series!
Content: talk of wars/fighting/wounds (nothing is shown); a girl is kidnapped but escapes; a boy is hit on the head with a rock; birth of a foal; talk of starvation and death; a horse dies
Despite the lack of action and anything happening at first, Lara’s wants and needs are clearly shown which I found really refreshing as MG books tend to ignore this for some reason? But this book did not and I suspect this is why the series has stuck with me for so long even though I haven’t read it in YEARS.
I’m looking forward to rereading the rest of the series!
Content: talk of wars/fighting/wounds (nothing is shown); a girl is kidnapped but escapes; a boy is hit on the head with a rock; birth of a foal; talk of starvation and death; a horse dies
May 4, 2018
One of the shining gems of the Horse Story genre.
January 14, 2016
I loved it! When the gray mare had her baby it was cute. It sounded cute, it was cute. I didn't like when the gray mare died. Evelyn (7 yrs.)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 20, 2011
THE BEST BOOK ABOUT A HORSE AND GIRL EVERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!
Ms. Suey is by far my favorite horse author! How she described the scenery and how the main character felt was just amazing.....this book is like a morning sunrise in the format of fast turning pages. Could not have been better ((LOVE))
Ms. Suey is by far my favorite horse author! How she described the scenery and how the main character felt was just amazing.....this book is like a morning sunrise in the format of fast turning pages. Could not have been better ((LOVE))
February 18, 2009
Medieval setting in Ireland of girl and her beloved horse. 4-part series. Excellent story
May 20, 2009
i love this book! you would think most horse books are chessey, but this book is soooo wonderful! no cheesey mystery about how took the brush, but a race for life.
August 21, 2015
This books was very redundant and boring at most parts through the explanation of her work life.
May 8, 2024
I wasn’t the biggest fan of this book. It starts off very slow, with very little actually happening. The scene gets set well, and there are a few interesting facts about what life was like for Lara and the others, but most people, especially the younger readers this is targeted towards, would probably get bored. The ending also felt very abrupt. It’s like it built for almost the whole book, but just dead stopped at the last sentence.
The writing also reminds me of the writing of an elementary schooler. There are some phrases that take me out of the element and make me feel like I’m listening to a 5 year old.
There are also some little tiny things that I find to be unbelievable. Nothing was done with the mare after the foal was born. A newborn foal needs colostrum, the first milk from their dam. This provides antibodies to the foal. The mare should have been milked, just so that this early milk could be given to the foal. Without it, the foal would develop FPT and be prone to infection and disease. But I doubt that will come into play in the next book.
I also wish the mare and foal would be given names already. I experienced this with the last group of books in this series: Katie and the Mustang. The Mustang never got a name. He was nameless the entire series, all 4 books. I’m hoping the foal won’t be called “the filly” this entire series.
The writing also reminds me of the writing of an elementary schooler. There are some phrases that take me out of the element and make me feel like I’m listening to a 5 year old.
There are also some little tiny things that I find to be unbelievable. Nothing was done with the mare after the foal was born. A newborn foal needs colostrum, the first milk from their dam. This provides antibodies to the foal. The mare should have been milked, just so that this early milk could be given to the foal. Without it, the foal would develop FPT and be prone to infection and disease. But I doubt that will come into play in the next book.
I also wish the mare and foal would be given names already. I experienced this with the last group of books in this series: Katie and the Mustang. The Mustang never got a name. He was nameless the entire series, all 4 books. I’m hoping the foal won’t be called “the filly” this entire series.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 11, 2020
So when I read the synopsis of this book on Goodreads, it sounded like a interesting read. So I started reading it and it seemed to be getting no where fast. So I went back and read reviews. One of them made me realize that this was part of a series. When I looked at the rest of the series, they all had the same synopsis. Not good.
This story on its on is very interesting. Lara is a 10 yr old in Ireland at the time of warring Irish clans and Norman invasions. Her father is the head of the clan, and he's not exactly father of the year. And his sister Fallon is even worse.
But Lara and her friends find their own joy.They are the three musketeers and they do everything together. And Lara loves the grey Mare. And then she loves her filly.
I learned a lot about how people lived then, the way they ate, and the holidays they celebrated.
Maybe someday I'll get to read more of Lara's story.
This story on its on is very interesting. Lara is a 10 yr old in Ireland at the time of warring Irish clans and Norman invasions. Her father is the head of the clan, and he's not exactly father of the year. And his sister Fallon is even worse.
But Lara and her friends find their own joy.They are the three musketeers and they do everything together. And Lara loves the grey Mare. And then she loves her filly.
I learned a lot about how people lived then, the way they ate, and the holidays they celebrated.
Maybe someday I'll get to read more of Lara's story.
July 3, 2017
I remember being salty about the gray mare dying. Don't remember when I read this as a young-in though
October 31, 2019
Read this to my little brother... Sometimes it was a little hard for him to understand, but he liked it enough to want to read the second book with me
February 20, 2024
First reread since I was a child and I still love this book the way I did back then. These books are a beautiful historical fiction with a rich cast and a plot that carries me through.
June 22, 2024
Cute little bit of fluff for the interim of heavy books.
January 24, 2025
Savannah, if you read this, this one is for you.
When I was nine years old, my house burned in a fire, and I lost basically every book I owned. My best friend knew how much I loved books and horses, and she gave me one of the greatest gifts I’ve ever received — five middle-grades horse-girl books that I read from cover to cover until the pages were falling out. Lara and the Gray Mare was my favorite of those five books, and I will never be able to put into words what this book has meant to me through the years.
The story follows Lara O’Marchach, the peaceful and hardworking nine-year-old daughter of the rí (king) of her Irish tuath (village), which is on the brink of starvation thanks to a terrible harvest and the constant fear of raids from neighboring clans in the late 1200s. Lara finds solace from these fears, as well as from her spiteful aunt Fallon, with the horses owned by her father, especially a gentle gray mare who is close to giving birth to a foal. However, as Lara navigates the backbreaking toil of everyday life and the knowledge that she can never take possession of the mare she loves so much, she faces devastating losses and shocking revelations about her own family and future.
Kathleen Duey was a gifted writer with a real flair for capturing the simplicity and mundanity of everyday life in medieval Ireland. As a child, I was enthralled by her vivid descriptions and gentle storytelling, and I was impressed by how well her story held my attention as an adult now. This is a very quick read (easily finished in less than two hours), but more is happening in this story than appears. I’ve seen a lot of reviews criticizing Lara and the Gray Mare for its slow pacing and apparent lack of plot, but I couldn’t disagree more. I’ve read this book easily more than fifty times, and I found endless amounts of nuance and depth to the story beyond the simple descriptions. This was also my introduction to a lot of Irish Gaelic vocabulary, which sparked my interest in learning the language as a teenager.
The characters are well-defined and easy to keep track of, and though their role in the story is relatively minimal, Duey makes the most of their voices and brings out some subtle themes in the way they interact. My favorite aspect of Lara is her persistence and patience with her dreary life, always trying to prioritize her family and village even when she would rather be with her horses. The story does end on a cliffhanger, but I never minded a bit in all my rereads, even though I didn’t read the rest of the series until five years later.
With its fantastically detailed descriptions of medieval Irish culture and its simple, steady plot line, Lara and the Gray Mare is the best entry in its series and an gem in any horse-loving young girl’s collection. My own personal attachment to this book makes it even more special, because I associate it with a time in my life where I was coping with a lot of loss. Lara and the Gray Mare shaped a big part of my identity back then, and I have my best friend to thank for introducing me to it.
When I was nine years old, my house burned in a fire, and I lost basically every book I owned. My best friend knew how much I loved books and horses, and she gave me one of the greatest gifts I’ve ever received — five middle-grades horse-girl books that I read from cover to cover until the pages were falling out. Lara and the Gray Mare was my favorite of those five books, and I will never be able to put into words what this book has meant to me through the years.
The story follows Lara O’Marchach, the peaceful and hardworking nine-year-old daughter of the rí (king) of her Irish tuath (village), which is on the brink of starvation thanks to a terrible harvest and the constant fear of raids from neighboring clans in the late 1200s. Lara finds solace from these fears, as well as from her spiteful aunt Fallon, with the horses owned by her father, especially a gentle gray mare who is close to giving birth to a foal. However, as Lara navigates the backbreaking toil of everyday life and the knowledge that she can never take possession of the mare she loves so much, she faces devastating losses and shocking revelations about her own family and future.
Kathleen Duey was a gifted writer with a real flair for capturing the simplicity and mundanity of everyday life in medieval Ireland. As a child, I was enthralled by her vivid descriptions and gentle storytelling, and I was impressed by how well her story held my attention as an adult now. This is a very quick read (easily finished in less than two hours), but more is happening in this story than appears. I’ve seen a lot of reviews criticizing Lara and the Gray Mare for its slow pacing and apparent lack of plot, but I couldn’t disagree more. I’ve read this book easily more than fifty times, and I found endless amounts of nuance and depth to the story beyond the simple descriptions. This was also my introduction to a lot of Irish Gaelic vocabulary, which sparked my interest in learning the language as a teenager.
The characters are well-defined and easy to keep track of, and though their role in the story is relatively minimal, Duey makes the most of their voices and brings out some subtle themes in the way they interact. My favorite aspect of Lara is her persistence and patience with her dreary life, always trying to prioritize her family and village even when she would rather be with her horses. The story does end on a cliffhanger, but I never minded a bit in all my rereads, even though I didn’t read the rest of the series until five years later.
With its fantastically detailed descriptions of medieval Irish culture and its simple, steady plot line, Lara and the Gray Mare is the best entry in its series and an gem in any horse-loving young girl’s collection. My own personal attachment to this book makes it even more special, because I associate it with a time in my life where I was coping with a lot of loss. Lara and the Gray Mare shaped a big part of my identity back then, and I have my best friend to thank for introducing me to it.
February 9, 2017
Unremarkable book about old Ireland -- really old Ireland. Lara lives in a tribe with funky walls around it. Her best friend is a pregnant mare -- or a girl with red hair. She seems to switch her loyalties in the "best friend" department. The book does not have a proper ending. It ends on a sort-of cliffhanger to make you read the next book in the series. I think I'll pass.
The main problems I had with this book:
* A horse narrates the italicized words at the beginning of each chapter. That was corny.
* Most of the book is describing chores Lara and her friends have to do. It's as if the author is showing off her research skills into life in twelfth century Ireland rather than telling a story.
* There are Celtic words used but no clue as to how to pronounce them.
The main problems I had with this book:
* A horse narrates the italicized words at the beginning of each chapter. That was corny.
* Most of the book is describing chores Lara and her friends have to do. It's as if the author is showing off her research skills into life in twelfth century Ireland rather than telling a story.
* There are Celtic words used but no clue as to how to pronounce them.
March 1, 2010
This is the first book in the Lara quartet, part of the Hoofbeats series of historical fiction horse stories for young readers. This quartet tells the story of a young girl and her horse in Medieval Ireland.
Nine-year-old Lara lives in fourteenth century Ireland, where she is the daughter of her clan's leader. Lara must spend most of her days doing chores, when she would prefer to be with the gray mare that she loves. The mare will soon have a foal, and Lara longs for it to be her own, but girls aren't allowed to have horses. When the mare is stolen in a raid, Lara is heartbroken. Will she ever see her beloved gray mare again?
This was another great historical novel for young readers by Kathleen Duey. The setting of medieval Ireland is very different from her previous books, all set in America, but is very well done and comes alive for the reader. I can't wait to read the rest of the books in the series to find out what happens to Lara next. I recommend this book to young readers who enjoy historical fiction and horse stories.
Nine-year-old Lara lives in fourteenth century Ireland, where she is the daughter of her clan's leader. Lara must spend most of her days doing chores, when she would prefer to be with the gray mare that she loves. The mare will soon have a foal, and Lara longs for it to be her own, but girls aren't allowed to have horses. When the mare is stolen in a raid, Lara is heartbroken. Will she ever see her beloved gray mare again?
This was another great historical novel for young readers by Kathleen Duey. The setting of medieval Ireland is very different from her previous books, all set in America, but is very well done and comes alive for the reader. I can't wait to read the rest of the books in the series to find out what happens to Lara next. I recommend this book to young readers who enjoy historical fiction and horse stories.
December 24, 2016
I read this years ago, but I never forgot the book itself. I remember that Lara was in this horse and cow raising clan, bit I just couldn't imagine what time period it could be in. So now I finally looked it up, and I must say I'm intruged enough to finish the series - even though this is meant for much younger children!
I'd definitely reccommend this series to any young kid who likes horses and/or history.
I'd definitely reccommend this series to any young kid who likes horses and/or history.
November 4, 2012
Out of all the Hoofbeats series, this one was my favorite. From what I remember of it, it takes place in Europe during the Renaissance. Duey is a great author, her words paint a picture in my imagination. This series has a fantasy feel to it, which is probably why it's my favorite. This series is a childhood favorite and I would recommend it to all young readers.
October 8, 2016
I think this is a beautiful series for anyone who is interested in horses to get involved in. It is an interesting historical view on horses and Ireland as well. Beautifully written. Beautifully done.
For more of my thoughts, here's my video review: https://youtu.be/viARgSGvGmk
For more of my thoughts, here's my video review: https://youtu.be/viARgSGvGmk
August 4, 2007
I think a new girls' horse series is created every month. This one was ok.
February 26, 2008
I have read this book eight times so far, it remains one my favourite books of all time.
February 6, 2009
This book shows the [sometimes] life an american girl. And I like it, because it also shows what any girl feels like when her horse is stolen.
April 10, 2010
I found this horse book that takes place in ancient Ireland very charming. So charming that I actually read the next one and intend to read the 3rd.
August 22, 2010
I don't remember this book much but I beleive I liked it
September 10, 2011
I really want to find out what happens in the next book!
April 6, 2015
My 7 year old niece might enjoy this, but I just couldn't get into it. I love a good children's story, but this wasn't it.
May 16, 2013
Loved it. It's sad that the gray mare dies and she doesn't have a name. I think the filly is sooo cute.
February 13, 2014
I liked this book. It is for young readers so I found it a quick read. It is the first in a series of four. I highly recommend it if you like historical fiction or horses.
February 20, 2015
This series began my love for reading when I was a child.
June 4, 2015
Not bad. Nice way to incorporate some historical fiction into our Ireland study. It ended in sort of a cliff-hanger, but I didn't read the next book. E thought it was good, but not great.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews