On a small Irish island, there is a special race
every November. Many men and boys ride the capaill uisce (pronounced
"copple ooshka") -- the swift, beautiful, bloodthirsty water horses,
which want to either drown their riders or eat their flesh. They often
succeed.
Puck is the first girl to ever enter the race, but
terrible memories make her reluctant to accept a capall uisce, so she
decides to ride her land mare, Dove. If she doesn't win, she and her
brothers will lose their home. Sean Kendrick is a boy with a special
knack with the capaill uisce. He catches, trains and sometimes kills the
water horses, and no one knows their ways better than he does.
But
as the race approaches, both the young riders are confronted by
terrible problems -- the entire village is opposed to Puck racing, and
Sean clashes with his cold, cruel employer over a prize stallion. And
even as Sean and Puck grow closer, they begin to fall in love... but
only one of them can possibly win the race.
Description:
On a small Irish island, there is a special race every November. Many men and boys ride the capaill uisce (pronounced "copple ooshka") -- the swift, beautiful, bloodthirsty water horses, which want to either drown their riders or eat their flesh. They often succeed.Puck is the first girl to ever enter the race, but terrible memories make her reluctant to accept a capall uisce, so she decides to ride her land mare, Dove. If she doesn't win, she and her brothers will lose their home. Sean Kendrick is a boy with a special knack with the capaill uisce. He catches, trains and sometimes kills the water horses, and no one knows their ways better than he does.
But as the race approaches, both the young riders are confronted by terrible problems -- the entire village is opposed to Puck racing, and Sean clashes with his cold, cruel employer over a prize stallion. And even as Sean and Puck grow closer, they begin to fall in love... but only one of them can possibly win the race.