Sun Horse, Moon Horse

Name: Sun Horse, Moon Horse
Rating: 4.5 (78 reviews)

by Rosemary Sutcliff

First published 1977

Amazon

4.3(78)

Iron Age Britain. Lubrin Dhu’s gift for drawing and carving separates him from the hunters and warriors of his tribe. In a society where skill is measured by service to the community, his imagination seems useless until conflict with a stronger neighbouring people places the tribe’s future in danger.

Lubrin’s response is to create the great white horse cut into the chalk hillside, transforming artistic vision into a public sign of identity, sacrifice and hope. Sutcliff uses the prehistoric monument at Uffington as the starting point for a story about how an image can become communal power. The novel treats art not as escape from history, but as an act capable of changing how a people understand themselves.