Funerals for Horses, Catherine Ryan Hyde's critically acclaimed first
novel (initially published in 1997), is a deeply felt and heartrending
story of redemption and love, disappearance and faithfulness, by the
author who would go on to be known for the best-selling Don't Let Me
Go and Pay It Forward.
Ella Ginsberg's brother, Simon, has disappeared. His clothing, shoes,
and watch were found abandoned near a freight line track in Central
California. His jockey shorts and wallet were never found. The police
have no clue, and Simon's wife had no warning that anything was wrong.
Ella takes off on foot across much of California and Arizona, thinking
she can find Simon using nothing but her knowledge of the way he might
think. Her search leads her to the Navajo Nation in Arizona, where she
is helped and befriended by three Native Americans and an aged paint
horse named Yozzie.
Ella has serious mental health issues, and Simon, who raised her, is
still the most important person in her shaky world. Only maybe it's not
as unstable as it looks from the outside. Maybe inside Ella, a core of
unexpected strength is emerging. Maybe Ella is even stronger than the
brother who held her family's lives together for so long.
