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As far back as she can remember, seventeen-year-old Karena Bradshaw’s family dubbed her Granny Annaleah ‘the crazy horse lady.’ Behind her back, they accused her of being a Nazi. This attitude has always darkened Karena’s view of her grandmother. When the family gathers for Granny A’s funeral and to prepare her belongings for an estate auction, Karena is annoyed when she is assigned to pack up the attic. Expecting a spider-infested, cobweb and dust-covered room, she finds instead a pristine collection of trophies and ribbons her grandmother earned from showing her Arabian horses. Karena has always feared horses, but her grandmother’s devotion to the animals intrigues her. In a beautiful, old steamer trunk tucked away in a corner, Karena discovers picture albums and a hidden manuscript about Granny A’s experiences in World War II, Poland. Instead of packing, Karena begins to read. She is drawn into the typed pages that come alive in her hands.As she examines the manuscript, she becomes immersed in a story of legendary horses, young love, and loss in Nazi-occupied Europe. Karena learns the truth about her grandmother and the fate of Europe’s finest horses stolen by the Nazis. She understands her grandmother’s struggle to help the horses survive, outrun, outlast the ravages of war, and escape unimaginable evil. Changed word by word and chapter by chapter, Karena’s negative feelings for her Granny A turn into empathy, love, and profound respect.
Book Excerpt
The staircase to the attic was narrow but pleasant and well-lit. Karena had expected a creepy, old, rickety ladder.
Here goes nothing! She took out the color-coded keys on the ring Uncle Ray had given her, found the proper key, and turned it in the lock. The door opened quietly as if on oiled hinges. She flipped the light switch and stepped inside.
This wasn’t an attic but a shrine. Glass display cases filled with polished silver trophies, bright red, blue, and gold championship ribbons, and full garlands of red silk roses lined the far wall. Above the cases, original paintings with a brass nameplate in each frame's center bottom memorialized one of Granny A’s champion horses.
Karena walked forward into the room. Two wingback chairs with a side table in between occupied the space in front of a bay window overlooking the pastures below. For only a flash, Karena thought she saw a young woman and man sitting there. They held hands across the table and looked lovingly into each other’s eyes. She shook off the vision and briefly thought she should be frightened. After all, she wasn’t prepared for ghosts. But instead, the whole room was suddenly infused with a feeling of warmth and devotion. If there were apparitions here, they were benign ones.
In the corner of the long attic, stacked against the wall, were three large trunks. They were easily three feet wide by six feet long and inlaid with expensive hardwoods in a Parque design. There wasn’t even a speck of dust anywhere in the room. Perhaps the spirits cleaned up after themselves. She laughed.
Karena sat on the floor in front of the first trunk. Looking over the keys on the ring, she chose an ornate one matching the polished brass lock connecting the lid to the trunk’s base.
For some reason, she felt excitement rushing through her. Opening this first trunk was like opening a secret treasure. Karena felt like a little kid playing a game. Would she find gold, silver, and precious jewels inside? She inserted the key into the lock. It fit perfectly. She sat back on her heels, rubbed her hands together, palm to palm, and then turned the key. She lifted the lid, and the clean, wood-spice scent of cedar filled the whole room.