Firehorse (review)

Fifteen-year-old Rachel Selby loves to ride horses, much to the consternation of her father, who finds her passion completely indecent for a young woman in 1872. When Mr. Selby accepts a position as editor of a small Boston newspaper and the family leaves rural Illinois, Rachel fears her days with horses are past. It isn't long, however, before she meets the Governor's Girl, a badly burned firehorse in need of care. Unbeknownst to their father, Rachel and her brother James (who works at the firehouse) move the Girl into the shed out back. Mr. Stead, a young veterinarian, begins dropping by regularly to check on the Girl, and it isn't long before Rachel decides that she wants to study to become a veterinarian, a daunting ambition for a Victorian lady. These domestic issues are set against the backdrop of a suspicious increase in city fires, a breakout of distemper among the city's working horses, and Mr. Selby's incendiary journalism that offers commentary on both issues, plus side stories about Mr. Selby's possible involvement in the fires and a burgeoning romance between Rachel and the young veterinarian. This is obviously a novel that brushes a multitude of genres, and some are more successful than others. The romance is standard and predictable from the get-go, the intrigue surrounding the fires is difficult to follow, and both these unpersuasive plotlines steal focus from the more interesting material. As a writer of historical fiction, though, Wilson's at her best, skillfully evoking the issues of change, resistance, and empowerment with which a young woman of the nineteenth century might grapple. As in her previous novels (Black Storm Comin', BCCB 9/05; I Rode a Horse of Milk White Jade, BCCB 6/98), she deftly captures young people's fascination with horses, and animal lovers will easily relate to Rachel's passion for and dedication to the Governor's Girl. An author's note links events in the story to the Great Boston Fire of 1872, as well as offering insight into the research behind the writing.