The horses are also fully fleshed characters. Things are not random and capricious, though, and as some relationships start to unravel, new ones grow in their midst. None appear to be at any particular high point in their lives.

They are either down on their luck, stuck with nowhere to go, or lost within their own life and unable to fight their way out. The characters we meet seem damaged at first. Lord of Misrule is not an instructional tome about horse racing, but the reader gets an education nonetheless. Baxter may be reached at Read more at .įollowing these two star-crossed lovers, as well as Medicine Ed, Two-Tie, and others with whom they come in contact, we understand the unusual rules and competitive nature of claiming races and how some participants might stoop to dubious methods to win. Matt Baxter is a freelance writer who contributes regularly to Silicon Valley community newspapers. Little does she realize how attached she will become to the horses. The track denizens-the groom, blacksmith, an old gypsy lady, and others-get caught up in the act as Tommy tries to beat the system and Maggie bides her time until she can get on with her life on her own terms. Tommy and Maggie arrive at Indian Mound hoping for a quick and easy score.

Lowlifes, miscreants, and outright criminals make trouble in and around Indian Mound Downs in West Virginia, a horse track where owners seem to go when they have nowhere else to race. They are hard lived or hard working, and sometimes both. Into this world Gordon inserts a host of characters, heroic and unsavory. Its owner would, presumably, not want it to be sold for less than its value. Within each race the horses are priced similarly, in theory preventing a higher class equine from easily beating the field. Title to the horse transfers just before the start of the race, but the previous owner is entitled to any purse that results from the horse’s performance. These are the races that populate Jaimy Gordon’s novel Lord of Misrule.Ĭlaiming races are those where the horses are up for sale until shortly before the race. Beyond the bright lights and champagne toasts of the Kentucky Derby and other big time horse racing events are smaller, dingier, less attended, and seemingly more dangerous races known as claiming races.

Lord of misrule novel