In a blue Oldsmobile, Nan, Frankie, and Mave escape from West Virginia and head west. Frankie tells the story to Mave’s lover, Ruth, to provide the text of this novel. That story is not so much of the trip, but more of what they discover about themselves and their life in Caudell, West Virginia. "A novel of grit and grace. Jessie van Eerden, in language both lean and lush, tells this story of women on the run―women who discover that in leaving they find exactly where they’re meant to be. The final scene is one I’ll remember always.” ―Lee Martin. "A rich and lyric meditation on love and individuality, Call It Horses depicts three women fleeing―literally, in a stolen, rusty Oldsmobile―the fixed narratives of gender, family, home, and death they’d been coaxed into. Filled with poetry, working class grit, and undogmatic spirituality, this novel shows us what we gain when we become outlaws in our own lives." ―John Englehardt. "I was so moved by this one, I sobbed at the end. And the language! What a gifted author." ―Peg Alford Pursell. This is the third novel by the author, Jessie van Eerden, who teaches at Hollins University in Roanoke.
Ann Arbor, Michigan. Dancz Books, 2021. 246 pages. Hardback in dust jacket.