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Wild Horses of the Summer Sun: A Memoir of Iceland

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Wild Horses of the Summer Sun: A Memoir of Iceland

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Overview

A wondrous story of adventure and friendship featuring a group of women who ride Icelandic horses.

"Blame it or praise it, there is no denying the wild horse in us."—Virgina Woolf

Each June, Tory Bilski meets up with fellow women travelers in Reykjavik where they head to northern Iceland, near the Greenland Sea. They escape their ordinary lives to live an extraordinary one at a horse farm perched at the edge of the world. If only for a short while.

When they first came to Thingeyrar, these women were strangers to one another. The only thing they had in common was their passion for Icelandic horses. However, over the years, their relationships with each other deepens, growing older together and keeping each other young.

Combining the self-discovery Eat, Pray, Love, the sense of place of Under the Tuscan Sun, and the danger of Wild, Wild Horses of the Summer Sun revels in Tory's quest for the "wild" inside her.

These women leave behind the usual troubles at home: affairs, sick parents, troubled teenagers, financial worries—and embrace their desire for adventure. Buoyed by their friendships with each other and their growing attachments and bonds with the otherworldly horses they ride, the warmth of Thingeyrar's midnight sun carries these women through the rest of the year's trials and travails.

Filled with adventure and fresh humor, as well as an incredible portrait of Iceland and its remarkable equines, Wild Horses of the Summer Sun will enthrall and delight not just horse lovers, but those of us who yearn for a little more wild in everyday life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781643135083
Publisher:	Pegasus Books
Publication date:	05/11/2021
Pages:	272
Sales rank:	487,622
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Tory Bilski started the blog www.Icelandica.net in late November 2012 after more than a decade of traveling to Iceland. Her short stories have been published in The Kenyon Review, Black Warrior Review, 13th Moon, and other literary magazines. Two of her short stories were nominated for Pushcart Prizes. She has a B.A. from Oswego State, and a M.A.L.S. from Wesleyan University. She works at Yale University and lives in New Haven, Connecticut, with her family.

Preface: The Wild Horse in Us ix

Book I The Walk (Fet) 1

2004

Getting Lost 3

In Search of the Perfect Psylur (Hot Dog) 9

The Land of Oz 13

Horse History 15

Arrival at Thingeyrar 18

The Guests in the Guesthouse 26

Where I Want to Be 30

2005

Repeat after Me: Hvammstangi 36

Eve's Life 42

Tern, Tern, Tern 46

The Herd 49

A Thin Place 55

2006

The Wind in Those Places 60

Book II The Tölt 67

2007

A Reykjavik Night 69

Mothers and Daughters 72

All the Queen's Men 75

The Kingdom of Horse 79

The Day Lisa Found Her Tölt 81

The Saga of the Bulls 83

Next Year, Iceland 89

2008

Horsewomen of the World 91

Book III The Trot (Brokk) 95

2009

The Situation 97

What We Carry with Us 99

Sylvie in Love 102

The Herd Changes, the Herd Charges 106

Stallions and Mares, Oh My 109

Starting Horses 113

2010

Annus Horribilis 119

Snaefellsnes Revisited 123

Herd Instinct 126

Life Style Envy 132

Next Year, Iceland 135

Book IV The Canter (Stökki) 139

2011

Ask for Canter 141

All That Is Missing 143

Gift Horse 147

The Truth about Elves and Trolls 152

Next Year, in Iceland? 157

2012

But the Sheep Réttir 160

We Went Some Places 168

2013

Welcome to Iceland 171

Ridiculous Women 176

The Nights of Magical Thinking 179

The Sisterhood of the Ridiculous Women 181

In Which We Order, Dish Out, and Leave 185

Raptured 190

Book V The Pace (Skeid) 199

2014

The Road to Thingeyrar 201

Wild River 204

About Those Ghosts 209

My Iceland Thing 216

2015

Getting Iceland 220

Learning to Fly 223

"Petta Reddast" (Life Will Work Out) 227

Finding Our Way 232

The Golden Summerland of Thingeyrar 234

Epilogue: Locked Gates and Lost Places 236

Acknowledgments 241

Reading Guide 243

From the B&N Reads Blog

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Editorial Reviews

Tory Bilski’s witty memoir of her annual 'horse sabbaticals' to Iceland will open up an entirely new side of this scenic travel destination for you.

sheknows.com "19 Books That Will Take You on the Vacation You Can’t Actually Go On"

"Delving into notions of freedom, independence, expression, nature and adventure, Wild Horses of the Summer Sun is a magical, thought-provoking memoir.

TravelMag

"This charming saga of Icelandic cross-country riding has a little of everything—wild tales of mad gallops, centuries of the island's history and personal stories of redemption and revitalization. It made me want to take my turn there!"

Wendy WIlliams

Tory Bilski’s witty memoir of her annual 'horse sabbaticals' to Iceland will open up an entirely new side of this scenic travel destination for you.

sheknows.com "19 Books That Will Take You on the Vacation You Cant Actually Go On"

06/10/2019
Debut author Bilski weaves a narrative of horses and friendship in windswept Iceland in this transportive memoir. Bilski, a married mother of two working as a Yale administrator, on a whim joins a trip to a horse farm in northern Iceland in 2004. At first, she and the other eight women at the farm are strangers, but they soon bond over their love of Icelandic horses and, over each of the following 11 years, the group returns to the farm. In an episodic, straightforward narrative, Bilski shares moments of life on the farm, including horse husbandry (“this is an equine love story and we all go gushy”) and being dive-bombed by Arctic terns intent on keeping her away from their nests. Each year in June, the women left behind worries about finances, health scares, children, and parents in declining health for a month of riding along weather-beaten trails in Iceland’s near-constant daylight, where “I am peacefully alone and temporarily lost.” In 2015, Helga, the farm’s owner, announces that she has sold the farm, but Bilski and three of the women travel back for one last nostalgic look at the farm and stay at another horse ranch—but it’s not the same, and it’s unclear whether they’ll return to Iceland. Those with adventurous spirits and healthy amounts of wanderlust will devour this charming memoir. (May)

Publishers Weekly

"When you’ve got friendship, a must-see global destination, and wild horses, what more is there to ask for?"

Bustle

"Bilksi is undoubtedly enamored of the horses, a breed protected by law in Iceland for more than a thousand years, closely watching their actions and recounting their travels together with an almost mystical admiration. But she also closely observes her travel companions, these women with travails both everyday and extraordinary, whose adventures form the core of this rapturous travelogue."

Booklist

Tory Bilski’s witty memoir of her annual 'horse sabbaticals' to Iceland will open up an entirely new side of this scenic travel destination for you.

sheknows.com "19 Books That Will Take You on the Vacation You Can’t Actually Go On"

"Bilksi is undoubtedly enamored of the horses, a breed protected by law in Iceland for more than a thousand years, closely watching their actions and recounting their travels together with an almost mystical admiration. But she also closely observes her travel companions, these women with travails both everyday and extraordinary, whose adventures form the core of this rapturous travelogue."

Booklist

Wild Horses of the Summer Sun: A Memoir of Iceland

Wild Horses of the Summer Sun: A Memoir of Iceland

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