Horsey books sparked a lifelong love of horses for many of us, yet too often they’ve been left behind in childhood. It’s the National Year of Reading, which is the perfect excuse to rediscover the comfort, inspiration, and escapism of an equestrian novel. Here are the latest book releases to get you started.
We’ll be updating this page regularly, so be sure to keep checking back…
Title: Riding Through War and Peace
Author: Michael Pugh
What it’s about: In the summer of 2014, as Crimea fell and eastern Ukraine descended into violence, Michael Pugh – an expat lawyer long embedded in Russian life – sensed the ground shifting beneath him. Rather than fly home, he chose a different kind of departure: he left Moscow on horseback.
What follows is a remarkable, deeply human journey westward through Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Romania. Pugh rides through wildflower meadows and forgotten aristocratic estates, meets monks, horse‑masters and villagers, and navigates landscapes shaped by centuries of conflict. Along the way he encounters generosity, warnings, celebrations, danger – and a world on the cusp of profound change.
Part travelogue, part cultural history, part personal reckoning, Riding Through War and Peace offers a rare, ground‑level view of Eastern Europe at a pivotal moment. It is lifted throughout by vivid characters, the antics of horses and guides, and the author’s wry, observant voice
RRP: £22.99
Buy: amazon.co.uk/Riding-Through-Peace-Michael-Pugh
Title: Tangled Webs
Author: Callie Coles
What it’s about: The first book in Callie Coles’ Spinning Silks trilogy – an inspiring romance about finding courage, healing and hope.
To the outside world, Sage Deverill has it all. In truth, her marriage is a gilded cage.
When Sage flees, she takes her young son to the only place that has ever felt like home: her grandparents’ manor house in Newmarket, the beating heart of the racing world. Surrounded by ivy-clad walls, the kindness of her family and the thunder of hooves on the heath, Sage reconnects with the place, people and creatures she loves most.
Riding beneath the wide Suffolk skies, Sage encounters Rafe Dunbarton – an ambitious, intriguing trainer with a gentle soul. What begins as friendship soon becomes an irresistible pull between two people who never expected to find each other.
But just as Sage rediscovers her freedom, her past returns in a tangle of destruction and lies and she is forced to decide how much she is willing to risk for her future…
Tangled Webs is a sweeping romance about finding courage, healing and hope – perfect for readers looking for the next love story to lose themselves in.
RRP: £20
Buy: amazon.co.uk/Tangled-Webs-Spinning-Silks
Title: Touki’s Last Letter
Author: Christiana Rosenblatt
What it’s about: When Touki, a Grand Irish Sport Horse, writes one final letter to his favorite little girl, he shares memories of the adventures they had, the lessons he learned, and the magic that still connects them.
Filled with comfort, wonder, and the quiet sparkle of the spirit world, Touki’s Last Letter helps children understand loss with tenderness and hope.
A beautifully illustrated story about love that continues in every hoofbeat, every whisper of wind, and every cherished memory.
RRP: £14.71
Buy: www.amazon.com
Title: Horse Country: Inside the World of Equestrian Style and Sport, from British Dressage to Western Riding
Author: Kathryn O’Shea-Evans
What it’s about: Horse Country it is not just a book, it’s a sprawling, cinematic tribute to the world of horses. Epic in scale, it’s a ride through the beauty of horse country around the globe – from tack room to saddle, British dressage to Western cowboys – and everywhere in between.
RRP: £32.24
Buy: ebay.co.uk
Title: The Secrets of Wild Hill: Lottie’s Dream
Author: Olivia Tuffin
What it’s about: Two stables, two families and a feud that goes back generations. Can Lottie heal the wounds from the past and save Wild Hill?
The first story in an exciting equine saga.
Lottie Manderson is passionate about horse riding. Deliberately failing the exam to go to a new school, she plans to spend all her free time with her sturdy, feisty and much-adored pony, Patch. But even with the help of her grandmother, Lottie has a battle on her hands. And when Granny convinces Lottie to skip school and go to the Badminton Grassroots event, it’s no surprise that her parents are really angry. But by now, a spark has ignited in Lottie’s heart and it sets her on a path to pursue her dream of eventing.
Meanwhile, when Lottie’s grandad has an accident, it’s clear that the yard at Wild Hill is facing financial disaster. And even Lottie’s brother – a talented horseman – appears to be quite happy to let it fall apart so they can sell up.
It seems that the only person Lottie can really talk to is Felix, the quiet, rich boy from the stables behind the high fence. But whose side is he on and can she even trust him knowing he’s the grandson of her family’s worst enemy?
RRP: £7.99
Buy: amazon.co.uk/Secrets-Wild-Hill-Lotties-Dream
Title: Wild Hearts
Author: Esther Towler
What it’s about: Wild Hearts is a fine art photography book six years in the making — a portrait of our rare native horse breeds in the UK, documented before their stories fade, capturing the heart and soul of each breed: their wildness, their dignity, and the landscapes that shaped them.
RRP: £55
Buy: esthertowler.com
Title: Clear to the Last, Against the Clock, and Staying the Course
Author: Jenny Roman
What it’s about: Staying the Course completes beloved equestrian trilogy for grown-up horse lovers.
For every rider who ever whispered secrets into a pony’s mane, Jenny Roman’s latest equestrian novel Staying the Course (book three of the Livy trilogy) offers a return to the golden days of pony stories – but for us grown-ups.
Roman’s novels capture the drama, warmth, and camaraderie of equestrian life while exploring the challenges of love, friendship, and resilience. The trilogy has consistently received strong reader feedback on Amazon and Goodreads, with five-star reviews praising its authenticity and emotional depth. The stories celebrate the unique bond between humans and horses – perfect for anyone who grew up on Jill’s Gymkhana or the Jinny books.
In Staying the Course, Livy faces the toughest season of her life as she navigates her new equestrian career, rebuilds fractured relationships, and tackles confidence issues both in and out of the saddle. The story will resonate with readers aged 30–70 who want fiction which acknowledges real-world struggles while still capturing the magic, companionship and escape that horses bring.
RRP: £8.99
Buy: amazon.co.uk/Staying-Course
Title: Lucy Kemp-Welch 1869-1958: The Life and Work of Lucy Kemp-Welch, Painter of Horses
Author: Dr David Boyd Hancock
What it’s about: Over the course of a long and very successful career spanning the first half of the 20th century, Lucy Kemp-Welch established herself as one of the leading equestrian painters at work in the UK and one of the country’s best-known women artists. David Boyd Haycock’s new, extensively illustrated biography of Kemp-Welch brings this remarkable artist and her work back into sharp focus.
Born in 1869, Kemp-Welch first came to the art establishment’s attention in 1897 when her immense painting, Colt Hunting in the New Forest, caused a sensation at the Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition; the work was bought for the Nation by the Chantry Bequest in the year of the exhibition. In 1915, she illustrated Anna Sewell’s Black Beauty, and was commissioned to paint images for the Government during the First World War. Later, the mural Women’s Work in the Great War, was placed in the Royal Exchange in London, where it remains to this day.
Respected art writer and curator Boyd-Haycock shines new light on Kemp-Welch’s life, writing from a 21st-century perspective and reflecting on her as a female painter in a male-dominated environment. Alongside Kemp-Welch’s paintings, the book will feature exclusive period photographs of the artist herself, shown at work and in her studio.
RRP: £45
Buy: amazon.co.uk/Lucy-Kemp-Welch
