A review by mel_books
The Equestrienne by Uršuľa Kovalyk

slow-paced

4.0

Karolina lives in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. To escape difficult home life, she spends time in a riding school and eventually becomes an equestrienne, a performer on a back of a horse. Like everything else after the Velvet Revolution, also Karolina’s life changes drastically.

We swapped our barbed wire cage for one made of gold.

Karolina’s coming-of-age story is quite unusual, sometimes even odd, with a touch of magical realism. There are quite a few content warnings: sexually related content, inappropriate teen behavior, and a brutal opening of the story. In short, Equestrienne is a very well-written novella that I enjoyed a lot.

This book will be available in April. Thanks to Parthian Books for the ARC and this opportunity! This is a voluntary review, and all opinions are my own.