ABOUT:

Each June, Tory Bilski meets up with fellow women travelers in Reykjavik where they head to northern Iceland, near the Greenland Sea. They escape their ordinary lives to live an extraordinary one at a horse farm perched at the edge of the world. If only for a short while.

When they first came to Thingeyrar, these women were strangers to one another.  The only thing they had in common was their passion for Icelandic horses. However, over the years, their relationships with each other deepens, growing older together and keeping each other young. 

These women leave behind the usual troubles at home: illnesses, aging parents, troubled teenagers, financial worries―and embrace their desire for adventure. Buoyed by their friendships with each other and their growing attachments and bonds with the otherworldly horses they ride, the warmth of Thingeyrar’s midnight sun carries these women through the rest of the year’s trials and travails.

Filled with adventure and fresh humor, as well as an incredible portrait of Iceland and its remarkable equines, Wild Horses of the Summer Sun will enthrall and delight not just horse lovers, but those of us who yearn for a little more wild in everyday life.

Available now in paperback. Purchase your copy here.

PRAISE AND RECOGNITION:

“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.” ~ Booklist

“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 want to take my turn there!”~ Wendy Williams, author of “The Horse: The Epic History of Our Noble Companion”

“When you’ve got friendship, a must-see global destination,and wild horses, what more is there to ask for? When Tory Bilski first traveledto 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 travelerstake a respite from their regular lives to live on a horse farm at the top ofthe world. Wild Horses of the Summer Sun is the story of not only how and whythese women continue to come together, but also what they leave behind.” ~ Bustle

“Debut author Bilski weaves a narrative of horses and friendship in windswept Iceland in this transportive memoir… 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.” In 2015, Helga, the farm’s owner, announces that she has sold the farm, but Bilski and three of the women travel back for one last nostalgic look at the farm and stay at another horse ranch–but it’s not the same, and it’s unclear whether they’ll return toIceland. Those with adventurous spirits and healthy amounts of wanderlust will devour this charming memoir.” ~ Publishers Weekly

“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.” ~ The Age, Melbourne

AUTHOR VISITS:

Author visits with Tory Bilski are available via NovelNetwork.com.