If the author’s name rings a bell, it might be because she won one of Yale University’s Windham-Campbell prizes, established to “call attention to literary achievement”.
That Morgan’s second novel is an achievement is beyond doubt; dedicated “to the reader” it is also, at more than 500 pages, a test of the reader’s dedication. Yet Morgan barely draws breath as she chronicles the fortunes of Henry Forge, the racehorse-breeding scion of Kentucky planters. Horses, however, are only half the story: the selfish gene and the legacy of slavery; creation myth, oedipal struggle and torrid melodrama – all are grist to the voracious narrative surge. As for overegging it, that charge too is entertained and overruled: “There aren’t too many words; there aren’t enough words… we’re infants before the Ohio coursing its ancient way, the icy display of aurora borealis and the redundancies of the night sky.”
The Sport of Kings is published by 4th Estate (£16.99). Click here to buy it for £12.99
