Sixteen Horses by Greg Buchanan (readict TXT) 📕

your endless support for my writing and for making me who I am (even if that means sending you five billion drafts of various stories since the age of eight!). Writing a novel can be an exhilarating, exciting, rewarding process, but it can also be a lonely one. You never failed to let me know what you enjoyed about my work, and your constant belief in my writing was instrumental in getting to the finish line. Other family members – Deirdre, Hilda, Ben, James – were really helpful in reading and giving feedback on the novel’s later drafts. I would also like to thank my niece Izzy, who was born on the same day agents got back to me about Sixteen Horses. I hope you enjoy reading this when you are capable of reading!

Finally I’d like to thank Dr Charlotte Mahood, veterinary surgeon, real-life Cooper, for all your animal advice, emotional support, writing feedback, patience and love throughout the development of this novel. When we met in 2012, I wasn’t a professional writer, you weren’t a vet, I couldn’t click my fingers and you couldn’t whistle. While you’re still working on the last one, achieving three out of four dreams isn’t bad at all, and we have our whole lives to figure out the rest.

Readers – the book you have just read couldn’t exist without all the people in these acknowledgements. If you enjoyed the book and ever meet them, please direct your praise in their direction.

SIXTEEN HORSES

Greg Buchanan was born in 1989 and lives in the Scottish Borders. He studied English at the University of Cambridge and completed a PhD at King’s College London in identification and ethics. He is a graduate of UEA’s Creative Writing MA. Sixteen Horses is his first novel.

First published 2021 by Mantle

This electronic edition first published 2021 by Mantle

an imprint of Pan Macmillan

The Smithson, 6 Briset Street, London EC1M 5NR

EU representative: Macmillan Publishers Ireland Limited,

Mallard Lodge, Lansdowne Village, Dublin 4

Associated companies throughout the world

www.panmacmillan.com

ISBN 978-1-5290-2719-8

Copyright © Buchanan Productions 2021

Cover Images: Sky © Paul Walsh/EyeEm/Getty Images; foreground hair © saulgranda/Getty Images; grass © Shutterstock; building © Christopher Furlong/Getty Images; birds © Shutterstock.

Author photograph by John Parris © Buchanan Productions

The right of Greg Buchanan to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damage.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Visit www.panmacmillan.com to read more about all our books and to buy them. You will also find features, author interviews and news of any author events, and you can sign up for e-newsletters so that you’re always first to hear about our new releases.