Shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year 2023
Kathryn Scanlan's Kick the Latch vividly captures the arc of one woman's life at the racetrack - the flat land and ramshackle backstretch; the bad feelings and friction; the winner's circle and the racetrack bar; the fancy suits and fancy boots; and the'particular language'of'grooms,jockeys,trainers,racing secretaries,stewards,pony people,hotwalkers,everybody'- with economy and integrity.
Based on transcribed interviews with Sonia,a horse trainer,the novel investigates form and authenticity in a feat of synthesis reminiscent of Charles Reznikoff's Testimony. As Scanlan puts it,
'I wanted to preserve - amplify,exaggerate - Sonia's idiosyncratic speech,her bluntness,her flair as a storyteller. I arrived at what you could call a composite portrait of a self.'
Whittled down with a fiercely singular artistry,Kick the Latch bangs out of the starting gate and carries the reader on a careening joyride around the inside track.
Publisher: Daunt BooksISBN: 9781914198250
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