NIGHT RIDE HOME

On the farmland along the Missouri River in the years after WWII, Nora Mahler led a good life boarding horses on her family's ranch. Her son, Simon, and daughter, Clea, inherited from her a love for horses. But when Simon is killed in a riding accident, her marriage and the world she has made for herself are shattered. Her husband, Neal, dismantles her business and sends the horses away, insisting that Nora sell the farm and move the family to Chicago. She refuses. Neal leaves her, taking Clea with him. Soon after they've gone, Ozzie Kline, a horse wrangler who has yearned for Nora since they were teenage lovers, comes to help her rebuild the farm. With Ozzie and Malaak, the mare they train together, Nora catches a glimpse of the happiness she never knew with Neal. As they fix breakfast before going out to the stables or sitting on the porch watching the sung go down, the bond between them grows stronger and Nora's sense of peace deepens. One day watching Ozzie at work in the stab

Barbara Esstman lives in Oakton, Virginia. Hallmark Hall of Fame has made into television movies both this book (under the title Secrets) and her second book, Night Ride Home. Esstman has received the Redbook fiction award, nominations for the Pushcart Prize and the Library of Virginia Fiction Award, as well as grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Virginia Commission for the Arts.