Stephen Amidon
A Breed Apart
The Sport of Kings
By C E Morgan
Fourth Estate 545pp £16.99
Southern families have a long history of dysfunction in American literature, but the Forge clan of C E Morgan’s epic second novel are a breed apart. Their prosperous Kentucky farm, Forge Run, might appear at first glance to be some sort of bluegrass idyll, but it proves by the end of this massive book to be a muddy barnyard of racism, incest, violence and adultery.
Although there are flashbacks to the time when Kentucky was still wilderness, the action proper begins in the 1950s. The estate’s master, a successful farmer and avid racist called John Henry Forge, finds himself at odds with his eldest son, Henry, over the fate of the homestead. Father wants to continue to grow corn, while the teenage Henry is enamoured of the idea of breeding the sort of horses that run in the Kentucky Derby in nearby Louisville. Family tensions deepen when John Henry’s deaf wife, Lavinia, engages in a dangerous liaison with an African-American employee, an entanglement that leads to the intervention of the local chapter of another powerful southern clan – the KKK.
Henry eventually triumphs in his struggle with his father and Forge Run becomes a breeding ground for thoroughbreds, an enterprise enthusiastically joined by Henry’s daughter, named – you guessed it – Henrietta. United by a love of horseflesh and the study of genetic science, father and daughter forge a bond
Sign Up to our newsletter
Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.@Lit_Review
Follow Literary Review on Twitter
Twitter Feed
It is a triumph @arthistorynews and my review @Lit_Review is here!
In just thirteen years, George Villiers rose from plain squire to become the only duke in England and the most powerful politician in the land. Does a new biography finally unravel the secrets of his success?
John Adamson investigates.
John Adamson - Love Island with Ruffs
John Adamson: Love Island with Ruffs - The Scapegoat: The Brilliant Brief Life of the Duke of Buckingham by Lucy Hughes-Hallett
literaryreview.co.uk
During the 1930s, Winston Churchill retired to Chartwell, his Tudor-style country house in Kent, where he plotted a return to power.
Richard Vinen asks whether it’s time to rename the decade long regarded as Churchill’s ‘wilderness years’.
Richard Vinen - Croquet & Conspiracy
Richard Vinen: Croquet & Conspiracy - Churchill’s Citadel: Chartwell and the Gatherings Before the Storm by Katherine Carter
literaryreview.co.uk