Does anybody recognise this obscure YA horse book from the 1980s?
June 23, 2017 4:31 AM Subscribe
Back in the 80s, when I was a young tween girl, I was obsessed with horses. I read this book which for some reason stuck with me for years and I've never been able to track it down. Spoilers inside.
Ok, so I think it was called Crow, or The Crow (or I could be off base altogether but the horse in the book was called Crow.) So basically the story revolves around a set of twins, around 15 years old, one boy, one girl, who live on the moors (which makes me think it's set in Scotland but don't quote me on it). They run rampant out there and one day they spot a wild black pony, which reminds them of a crow.
The girl runs down the steep moors after the horse, shouting Crow, Crow!, and disappears. Her twin runs after her but loses her. Eventually after not finding her, he goes home. I think they send a search party out and discover that she broke her neck running down the mountain and died.
He sinks into a deep depression and spends months alone wandering the moors. The wild pony shows up and initially he hates it, (now called Crow) blaming it for his sister's death but he forms a friendship with it and maybe? tames it and it helps him come to terms with his loss. I think this was the basic crux of it and I'm surprised I remembered this much after 30 years. I think the reason it stuck with me was that it was so unusual to have a book around horses that featured death and loss instead of, you know, adventures and teen girl fun. And as far as I remember the main protagonist was a young boy (but I could also have the twins mixed up here).
Anyway if it rings any bells and you could point me to a copy of it, that would be great. AFAIK, it was not a hugely popular book so I don't think it would have been widely read.
Ok, so I think it was called Crow, or The Crow (or I could be off base altogether but the horse in the book was called Crow.) So basically the story revolves around a set of twins, around 15 years old, one boy, one girl, who live on the moors (which makes me think it's set in Scotland but don't quote me on it). They run rampant out there and one day they spot a wild black pony, which reminds them of a crow.
The girl runs down the steep moors after the horse, shouting Crow, Crow!, and disappears. Her twin runs after her but loses her. Eventually after not finding her, he goes home. I think they send a search party out and discover that she broke her neck running down the mountain and died.
He sinks into a deep depression and spends months alone wandering the moors. The wild pony shows up and initially he hates it, (now called Crow) blaming it for his sister's death but he forms a friendship with it and maybe? tames it and it helps him come to terms with his loss. I think this was the basic crux of it and I'm surprised I remembered this much after 30 years. I think the reason it stuck with me was that it was so unusual to have a book around horses that featured death and loss instead of, you know, adventures and teen girl fun. And as far as I remember the main protagonist was a young boy (but I could also have the twins mixed up here).
Anyway if it rings any bells and you could point me to a copy of it, that would be great. AFAIK, it was not a hugely popular book so I don't think it would have been widely read.
Response by poster: Wow, thank you! You solved a decades old mystery.
posted by Jubey at 2:55 PM on June 23, 2017
posted by Jubey at 2:55 PM on June 23, 2017
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as described at
http://janebadgerbooks.co.uk/misc2/satow.html
Found by remembering there's a website of horse and pony books, then searching there for each of the words crow, twins, moor, and finally just "dies".
posted by readinghippo at 10:53 AM on June 23, 2017 [10 favorites]