The Twelfth Horse

About this book

Every child of Birchport, Michigan learns two things early: how to catch the brass ring on the lakeside carousel, and how to answer the tourists who count the horses. Eleven, painted and shining, each one carved between 1928 and 1931 by Anton Kessler, a quiet immigrant carver of genius. And one empty stand, the twelfth, its floor plate polished by ninety years of curious feet, its horse missing since before anyone living can remember. The town's story has always been short and sour: Kessler was dismissed for stealing lumber from the pavilion workshop, left town in disgrace, and the last horse was never finished. Nobody checks such stories. They calcify.