A whole, wholesome question of taming

Nicholas Evans comes up with The Horse Whisperer with a picturesque description of life in the far outback of Montana, USA. The book begins with a heart-breaking accident showing how abruptly life can change. The realisation comes that we cannot expect life to be an endless calm sea. Sudden winds can set the sea to pounding with deadly waves. One fine crisp winter morning, Anne Graves finds her life in turmoil when her daughter Grace and her horse Pilgrim hit a 40-ton truck. Grace loses one leg and the horse is gravely injured. Grace had been riding with her friend Judith and her horse Gulliver. Judith and Gulliver, also hit by the truck, die on the spot. But the emotional and physical trauma of Grace and Pilgrim paralyses Annie's life. A morning that Annie had welcomed as the beginning of a beautiful day turns to a catastrophe. A mother cannot rest in peace until her child finds peace. And so Annie, a journalist, decides to believe in the healing of a mystic and heads out to Montana, to a horse whisperer. Horse whisperers are said to have the gift of healing troubled horses. Annie believes that Grace's recovery depends to a great extent upon the recovery of Pilgrim. She is ready to do the impossible and take the girl and the horse to the other end of the world in the hope that the horse whisperer will come up with miracles.
As a modern, strong woman Annie takes the healing of Grace and Pilgrim as a challenge. Taking the girl and the horse, Annie drives out from Connecticut to Montana. Her husband Robert, knowing how headstrong Annie is, does not interfere with her plans. Annie drives up to the horse whisperer Tom Booker's ranch. Tom is impressed by the woman's courage and determination. On the other hand, as Annie gets to know Tom she is impressed by his skill with the horses and believes in him as a gifted horse whisperer, a man who really understands horses. She is touched by his gentleness. His quiet self holds strength of character that she learns to respect.
Annie continues to work for her paper from Montana. And here, for the first time in her life, she learns about life on a ranch. She finds a strange peace in her troubled soul. She takes to riding out over the vast stretches of land. The infinite sky and the blue mountains seem to give her breathing space. Tom feels empathy for the woman who has come so far to seek help for her daughter. Tom builds up a bond of love and trust with Grace, the girl who is undergoing such an emotional and physical ordeals. Tom's brother Frank and his wife Diane help out the girl and her mother. The love and sympathy of the whole family moves Annie. Here the reader sees how acts of kindness and love can find wings among people and bring strangers close to each other. Annie takes part in branding the animals, watches Tom breaking wild horses and even takes part in milking cows. All these are new for her and her daughter and yet all experiences come with pleasant surprises. Both of them relish each passing day and Grace is back to health.
Impressed with Tom's work on the horses, Annie does a lengthy report for her newspaper from the far away ranch in Montana. People from far away places want to know more about Tom. She is awed by how close Tom is to the animals. Pilgrim, who is like a possessed devil, severed from worldly ties, falls under Tom's spell. And once again Pilgrim is the sleek and agile horse that he was. His high spirits return and gradually Grace is able to ride him again. To Annie it is a miracle that the girl and horse who had seemed beyond hope are back to their old selves.
As days pass, Annie is touched by Tom's patience and support. Working together for the girl and the horse, they find each other drawn closer. On a beautiful moonlit night they find that they are indeed like two soul mates who have met too late in life. Tom is single but Annie is married and yet they both feel dangerously close to each other. They wonder if they can rise above their feelings and keep their distances. Diane is strangely possessive of Tom and Annie is surprised when she openly opposes closeness between her and Tom. Robert, Annie's husband, comes over to the ranch and is troubled when he sees the bond of trust and friendship between Tom and Annie.
The story starts its climb toward the climax when Grace and Pilgrim are well and it is time for Annie to go home. Tom Booker knows that it is time to give up his dreams of wanting Annie to fill in his lonely life. And yet both of them are under the magic spell of the massive Montana sky. Annie is torn between her devotion to her family and the other part of her that seeks a new life with Tom. Tom wonders if this city girl can give up her life as a dynamic journalist to live in the far out country. Life for Tom and Annie holds so many questions that seemed to have no answers. And here begins another chapter of the story based on the decisions of the two people so helplessly in love. The story explodes into a dazzling peak when Tom, Annie and the caring people around them face decisions that could maim or mar the lives of all around them. Fate seems to pull the strings and the puzzles fall into places and yet the reader is left wishing that events had happened otherwise or had not occurred at all.
The Horse Whisperer is told with intricate details holding glimpses of real life situations. The characters are very much real; they resonate with each other. They are people joined by the meanderings of love. The story is like an extraordinary tale of ordinary people and yet holds real life anecdotes. It is a beautiful story of human beings caught in a sudden turmoil of life. One feels lucky to have a vision of real life characters and the vision of a gripping plot opens the mind's windows to diversities of life. It is a mesmerizing adventure and an emotionally charged tale of redemption and human strength. The reader is presented with highly amiable reading hours that seem to be holding a promise of a sublime ending. It is indeed a real treat for passionate readers.

Tulip Chowdhury is a poet and teacher.