Like the protagonist of Dark Horses, [von Ziegesar] was a competitive force in the hunter/jumper world, and has been riding since childhood.
New York, New York (PRWEB) October 14, 2016
GOSSIP GIRL author Cecily von Ziegesar returns with DARK HORSES, her first book in nearly a decade, garnering star-studded endorsements from fellow New York Times bestselling authors Sara Shepard (PRETTY LITTLE LIARS), Alyson Noel (the IMMORTALS Series), and Eliot Schrefer (RESCUED), and many review outlets.
The release in September marked a new chapter of von Ziegesar’s storied career, delivering a read with a darker narrative and a more complex, mature perspective from both Merritt, the troubled girl at the heart of the story, and Red, an equally troubled horse.
Gossip Girl became an international phenomenon due to the authenticity lent to the series’ characteristic drama and romance by von Ziegesar’s deep roots in the gilt high rises of Upper East Side elites. But at the same time, in that milieu she was observer; her heart truly lies with the equestrian community; like Merritt, von Ziegesar was a competitive force in the hunter/jumper world, and has been riding since childhood.
At age 14 von Ziegesar began taking lessons at Ox Ridge Hunt Club in Darien, CT. von Ziegesar's mom would pick her up after school in NYC and they would ride together a couple of days after school and on the weekends. von Ziegesar became more serious after purchasing her horse, Wings, competing Mini-Medal/Maclay and Children’s Hunters and then in the 3’6 Medal/Maclay. Says von Ziegesar: “Red, in Dark Horses, has a lot of Wings’s characteristics. He was very smart, but also very difficult. But I learned a lot on him.”
So, too, has von Ziegesar learned much from her many previous books and their success; Dark Horses brings to bear the richness of an entire career.
