It is a truth not universally acknowledged that writers are like sticks of rock: their talent is all of a piece, whatever the age of their readers. Dunmore’s way with words; her ear for how they sound in a sentence; the elegance of her prose is part of being a poet. Similarly, her understanding of her heroine’s ambivalent feelings when she’s sent to spend the summer with her father comes from the sharp observation of people that we see in her adult novels. First love, summertime, horsesI this enjoyable story full of believable characters has them all.