Mestengo

A Wild Mustang, A Writer On The Run, And The Power Of The Unexpected, First Edition

Melinda Roth

Exhausted by her job as a political press secretary, Melinda Roth found the courage to escape. Her goal: a simpler life in rural Illinois that would let her pursue her passion for writing. But then real life intervened. A fire at a neighboring farm and a misinterpreted gesture of kindness transformed her into the reluctant caretaker of a homeless menagerie of animals. Roth, coauthor of the New York Times-bestseller From Baghdad with Love, writes vividly, movingly, and often humorously of the chaos that descended into her life. One of her new tenants was a wild mustang, broken but not bowed, his restless spirit propelling him to escape the fences and pens that enclosed him—a far different life than before he was violently captured by a government-sponsored “round-up.” Ultimately these two fiercely independent characters each provide the catalyst for the other’s life-changing and life-affirming decisions. Mestengo is a captivating, emotional account that taps into readers’ love of animals: Marley and Me meets The Horse Whisperer. An entertaining and delightful read, it is a cinematic, sometimes tense, but always beautiful story of the power of healing.

Globe Pequot / Lyons Press

Pages: 256 •

978-0-7627-9019-7 • Hardback • October 2013 • $26.95 • (£20.99)

Subjects: Pets / Horses, Biography & Autobiography / Personal Memoirs, Pets / Essays & Narratives

Mestengo

A Wild Mustang, A Writer On The Run, And The Power Of The Unexpected, First Edition

Hardback

Summary

Exhausted by her job as a political press secretary, Melinda Roth found the courage to escape. Her goal: a simpler life in rural Illinois that would let her pursue her passion for writing. But then real life intervened. A fire at a neighboring farm and a misinterpreted gesture of kindness transformed her into the reluctant caretaker of a homeless menagerie of animals. Roth, coauthor of the New York Times-bestseller From Baghdad with Love, writes vividly, movingly, and often humorously of the chaos that descended into her life. One of her new tenants was a wild mustang, broken but not bowed, his restless spirit propelling him to escape the fences and pens that enclosed him—a far different life than before he was violently captured by a government-sponsored “round-up.” Ultimately these two fiercely independent characters each provide the catalyst for the other’s life-changing and life-affirming decisions. Mestengo is a captivating, emotional account that taps into readers’ love of animals: Marley and Me meets The Horse Whisperer. An entertaining and delightful read, it is a cinematic, sometimes tense, but always beautiful story of the power of healing.

Details

Globe Pequot / Lyons Press

Pages: 256 •

978-0-7627-9019-7 • Hardback • October 2013 • $26.95 • (£20.99)

Subjects: Pets / Horses, Biography & Autobiography / Personal Memoirs, Pets / Essays & Narratives

Author

Melinda Roth is the author of The Man Who Talks to Dogs, a former award-winning political journalist, and a former Capitol Hill press secretary. She co-wrote the international bestseller From Baghdad with Love (Lyons, 2006) and Don’t Dump the Dog and also worked on the bestselling Wesley the Owl.

Reviews

Critical acclaim for From Baghdad with Love:

"Heartwarming." —USA Today

"A tale of radiant joy ... that eschews sentimentality. ... The story of Lava's journey out of Iraq is exciting, but it's to Kopelman and Roth's credit that it's not nearly as harrowing as the story of what the dog left behind." —Publishers Weekly

"Not just a seasonal heart-warmer. It is a provocative examination of an issue that resonates deeply." in the wake of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay: Do 'softer' values, such as mercy for the weak, sabotage military morale or strengthen it?" —Washington Post

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Features

[Setting] -
A farm in rural Illinois.

From the bestselling co-author of From Baghdad with Love, the moving and inspirational story of how a wild mustang and an emotionally spent woman form a bond of healing love and save each other.