The Rescue of Belle and Sundance: One Town’s Incredible Race to Save Two Abandoned Horses

Two horses are stranded on treacherous mountain terrain in the Canadian Rockies—when winter comes, they are emaciated and frostbitten, “waiting for the inevitable.” Their plight galvanizes the small town of McBride, British Columbia, and the ensuing rescue effort is the focus of this slim, moving book. Stutz, a horse trainer and McBride resident (writing with Scanlan, author of The Horse God Built), was involved in spearheading the effort to return Belle and Sundance (a young mare and older gelding, respectively) to safety. In elegant prose, Stutz recaps the days of the rescue, in which a search party is sent up the mountainside with a handgun and a bale of hay, the former to be used in case the horses are too far gone. We experience the emotional and physically draining days along with Stutz, who also narrates the actions of Belle and Sundance’s original owner, an Edmonton lawyer who abandoned his pack horses after an expedition gone awry—and then tries to claim them after the rescue. This uplifting story will even touch readers who aren’t horse fanatics—a lovely read. Agent: Jackie Kaiser, Westwood Creative Artists (Canada). (Mar.)