By: Robbie Coburn
Genre: YFB - Children’s / Teenage fiction: General, modern and contemporary fiction
Published by: Lothian Children's Books
Published: 28 May 2025
ISBN: 9780734423603

Description

An astonishingly raw and beautiful verse novel about survival, love and the bonds between humans and animals from an important young Australian poet.


Sam, a teenager, lives on a farm with his mother and emotionally distant father, a horse trainer.


Haunted by trauma and depression, struggling with school and disillusioned with his home life following the death of his older brother, Sam's life changes when he finds a wounded foal tangled in barbed wire in one of the paddocks at the edge of their property.


In the course of rescuing and caring for the foal he becomes close with Julia, a troubled girl from the next property.


The Foal in the Wire is the deeply moving and inspiring story of Sam, his love for a girl and the horse that brings them together.


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Review

This is a terrific prose novel covering many important topics from Australian author and poet, Robbie Coburn.


Sam lives with his constantly fighting parents on a tiny horse farm. His older brother, who was a rodeo rider, died at the hands of a bull three years earlier. Sam has only one friend, Alex, but their friendship is toxic, and Alex is always putting Sam down and making him feel worthless.


Then a foal gets tangled in the barbed wire that joins the neighbouring property, and Julia, who lives there, helps Sam to untangle it and slowly help the foal to heal. Healing is something that they are also unwittingly giving to each other as their friendship, and then love, follow. But Julia’s life is difficult. Her Mum left years ago because of her drunken father, and now her father is abusing her.


Can these teenagers find a way to have a life that is worth fighting for, or is everything just too much?


This is a short read but it deals with so many issues of hurt and growth, death, separation and divorce, domestic violence and abuse, toxic relationships and love. Sometimes raw, but always hopeful, it is especially about love, change and ultimately, learning how to go on. It is a wonderful book that is best suited to readers aged 14 and older.


Reviewed Rob