REVIEWS

"Bilski weaves a narrative of horses and friendship in windswept Iceland in this transportive memoir. At first, she and the other eight women at the farm are strangers, but they soon bond over their love of Icelandic horses and, over each of the following 11 years, the group returns to the farm. In an episodic, straightforward narrative, Bilski shares moments of life on the farm, including horse husbandry (“this is an equine love story and we all go gushy”) and being dive-bombed by Arctic terns intent on keeping her away from their nests. Each year in June, the women left behind worries about finances, health scares, children, and parents in declining health for a month of riding along weather-beaten trails in Iceland’s near-constant daylight, where “I am peacefully alone and temporarily lost.” Those with adventurous spirits and healthy amounts of wanderlust will devour this charming memoir. "

"When you've got friendship, a must-see global destination, and wild horses, what more is there to ask for? When Tory Bilski first traveled to Reykjavik, Iceland, she was a stranger to the women she gathered with there.Now, that journey is an annual event -- as she and her fellow female travelers take a respite from their regular lives to live on a horse farm at the top of the world. Wild Horses of the Summer Sun is the story of not only how and why these women continue to come together, but also what they leave behind."

“Bilski is undoubtedly enamored of the horses, a breed protected by law in Iceland for more than a thousand years, closely watching their actions and recounting their travels together with an almost mystical admiration. But she also closely observes her travel companions, these women with travails both everyday and extraordinary, whose adventures form the core of this rapturous travelogue.”

“In Wild Horses of the Summer Sun the love is for Icelandic horses and the country, not far from the Arctic Circle. An unusual destination when Bilski started going years ago, having heard about the horses from a woman who owned a horse farm in the Berkshires. The marvel of this moving, funny, episodic narrative is that Bilski turns living on a horse farm in Iceland with other women for a week every June into a universal story. You don’t have to love horses, riding or Iceland in order to appreciate this fine memoir.”

~ JOAN BAUM on Books for WSHU Public Radio

"This charming saga of Icelandic cross-country riding has a little of everything -- wild tales of mad gallops, centuries of the island's history and personal stories of redemption and revitalization. It made me what to take my turn there!"

WENDY WILLIAMS, Author of The Horses: The Epic History of Our Noble Companion

Also published by MURDOCH BOOKS
in Australia, New Zealand and the U.K.

”The writing is vivid and has a real sense of immediacy, while at the same time, reflecting on Icelandic history and mythology (touching on Hannah Kent’s “Burial Rites”), as well as personal history.” ~ Steven Carroll, The Age Melbourne

“Lively Read that Will Not Disappoint” ~ Geraldton Guardian

“Our Top 10 Picks of the Month” ~ Woman’s Day It’s Your Day