This book is so touching that I almost cried when I read the story. When I finished reading the last sentence, I felt a torrent of mixed feelings pouring down on me. Part of me felt, "I feel so touched! I want to cry!" Another part of me felt, "Those German gunners are so cruel to Joey! If I ever saw them, I would..." I was about to scream out a whole lot of naughty words at the gunners(who already lie dead in an unknown cemetery and are getting decomposed) but I stopped myself just as I was about to curse them.
Joey- the narrator of the story- is a horse who was sold at the market to Albert, a teenage boy who cared for Joey. Albert always gave Joey the sweetest hay and cooked the best-tasting mash for him, unlike the former's father who always drank on Tuesdays and treated Joey badly.
Not long after, Joey was taken to war where Albert was too young to join and where Joey was used as cavalry by another caring master- Captain Nichollis. The Captain was killed in the first small battle and Albert, who disguised himself as 'Trooper Warren', joined and replaced the Captain as Joey's rider.
Soon, Joey made good friends with another horse, Topthorn. Not long after, they were captured and used to pull an ambulance cart for the Germans. The war slowly moved away from Joey and Topthorn and they were put in the care of Emilie and her grandfather. It was only a matter of time before winter came and the two horses were used to pull guns for the Germans. The gunners, as mentioned above, were very cruel to all the horses.
About a month later, spring came again and grass started growing everywhere. Joey and Topthorn even had the chance to become fat- so fat that they were chosen to pull the ammunition cart for the guns.There were cared for by 'mad old Frederich', who was not actually mad but was a kind old man with a good nature and only wanted the war to end.
One day, with shells blasting everywhere, Frederich and the two horses escaped to a British dugout near a river. At the dugout, Frederich was killed by a stray bullet and Topthorn fell victim to heart failure and died too. In a state of utter distress, Joey had to find a hole in the barbed wire surrounding the trenches and injured his leg in the process. It took Joey a lot of time to find a hole and he was sent to the British veterinary unit where his leg was attended to.
Just as he looked better, Joey caught tetanus and was taken care of by Major Martin and Albert, who also was at the veterinary unit only because he wanted to find Joey in all the 'half a thousand horses'.
When the war ended, Joey was indirectly sold to Albert through Emilie's grandfather.
(Mind you, there was absolutely no sentence saying 'and they live happily ever after' in this story!) ;)
I strongly recommend this book to all horse-lovers and everyone else who can take the pain of a touching story. THIS BOOK IS INEVITABLY POWERFUL!
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