Taking the reins 

Unconformity and rebellion in the teenage horse girl

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  • Published 20231107
  • ISBN: 978-1-922212-89-4
  • Extent: 208pp
  • Paperback, ePub, PDF, Kindle compatible

MRS LONERGAN HAD something new for us. Formidable, with jet-black hair and heavy gold jewellery, she ran Poetry Club at my primary school on Wednesday afternoons. We listened and recited in a poky spare classroom crowded with filing cabinets and surplus desks. She had a wonderful voice, now hushed and conspiratorial, now sonorous. She cleared her throat and began: ‘There was movement at the station, for the word had passed around / That the colt from old Regret had got away.’

As she read on, I was transported. Gone was the grey-carpeted room with its rattling aircon unit. I heard the stomp of restless horses, the crack of the stockwhip, smelled campfire smoke and leather. I was there, leaning way back in the saddle and trusting my pony to find purchase on the steep scree of the downward slope.

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About the author

Cecile Bester

Cecile Bester is a writer of essays and fiction. A lawyer by trade, she grew up in Wamberal, New South Wales, and currently lives...

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