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  • The Winter Horses by Philip Kerr
  • Hope Morrison
Kerr, Philip. The Winter Horses. Knopf, 2014. [224p]. Library ed. ISBN 978-0-385-75544-3 $19.99 Trade ed. ISBN 978-0-385-75543-6 $16.99 Reviewed from galleys     Ad Gr. 5–8.

Set in the Ukrainian steppe in 1941, this novel follows Kalinka, an orphaned Ukrainian Jew on the run, and Max, the elderly caretaker of the Askaniya-Nova State Steppe Nature Reserve. The reserve is presently occupied by a band of Nazi [End Page 410] soldiers, whose leader orders the extermination of most of the animal population at the reserve. His main target is the small population of rare Przewalski’s horses, horses that Berlin has declared “a forbidden breed” because they threaten to contaminate “decent domesticated horses.” Max played a major role in setting up the reserve’s breeding program, and Kalinka, hiding out in the woods just outside the reserve, has developed an unusually close relationship with a pair of the horses, so they each have reasons to resist. Max assists Kalinka, who flees into the steppe accompanied by the two horses, pursued by the Nazis. The animal story (drawing on the real-life Ukrainian reserve and the killing of its rare herd of Przewalski’s horses) offers appealing elements in Kalinka’s friendship and the horses’ need for protection, resulting in an unusual wartime tale. The plot, though, is too often implausible (Kalinka encounters everything from attacking wolves and ancient burial chambers to cannibals, and she’s finally captured by a kindly German officer who supports her cause), and Kalinka’s exposition moves the story with a slow pace unsuited to such an adventurous survival story. Those willing to ride out the far-fetched storyline will likely enjoy the survival story, however, and the social metaphor of identifying the horses as an unfit species makes for a useful entry point to discussing World War II and the Holocaust. The bound book will include an author’s note.

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