Burn, Horses, Burn

Helena Hedlund

This is the fall when a worm ruins Dora’s life completely. In connection with the worm incident, her best friend Hillevi deserts her and Dora’s parents are getting a divorce because Dora’s mom wants to live in the city “among people and bright lights” and have a French balcony. Dora doesn’t care which country the balcony comes from – her whole head feels like it’s going to explode. She starts to question who she is and what she wants, and just as she has decided to stop horse riding and torn all her horse posters down from her walls, dad tells her he has bought a horse for her: Bruce Winner Almighty Star. Dora is more intrigued by the class’ Norwegian substitute Bjarne than by Bruce, and she finally reconciles with Hillevi through their shared interest for Bjarne. Saying what you want is hard, knowing what you want may be even harder. And changing and moving on is not easy either.

A sensitive portrayal of crisis and growth in the life a middle-grader, and the realization that everything will be alright in the end.

Helena Hedlund is a writer, actor and playwright, who made her debut with The Best Thing about Kerstin, which received the Slangbellan prize for best children’s book debut and the Nils Holgersson Plaque for best children’s book. Five more books about Kerstin have been published since.

Press voices

“This is a well written book that gives a lot of room for thoughts and feelings when life is changing.” Blekinge Läns Tidning

”To read Burn, Horses, Burn is to feel both the raw pain from when ones best friend turns their back and the relief to finally be able to give after and cry towards a grownups shoulder – when someone like that is there to listen and understand.” Nerikes Allehanda

More books by Helena Hedlund