The Sport of Kings
“The splendor and barbarism of horse racing and the legacy of slavery are just two of the threads in this sprawling, magisterial Southern Gothic for the twenty-first century.”
O, The Oprah Magazine
An Amazon Editor’s Top Pick for May 2016
A New York Times Editor’s Choice for Horse and Writer Novels
Finalist for the 2016 Kirkus Prize
A Los Angeles Times Pick of Best Audiobooks of 2016
An NPR Best Book of 2016
An Entertainment Weekly Best Book of 2016
Finalist for the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
Among longlisted titles for The Telegraph (UK) Best Books of the Year, 2016
Among longlisted titles for Amazon.com Best Books of the Year, 2016
Among longlisted titles for Wall Street Journal Best Books of the Year, 2016
Among longlisted titles for Entertainment Weekly Best Books of the Year, 2016
Winner of Kirkus Prize Winner, 2016
Among shortlisted titles for Women's Prize for Fiction - Shortlist, 2017
Among shortlisted titles for Pulitzer Prize - Finalist, 2017
Among longlisted titles for NPR Best Book of the Year, 2016
Among longlisted titles for Kirkus Reviews Best Books of the Year, 2016
Among longlisted titles for San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of the Year, 2016
Among longlisted titles for New York Times Book Review Notable Books of the Year, 2016
Among shortlisted titles for Folio Prize Shortlist, 2017
Among shortlisted titles for Kirkus Prize Finalists, 2016
Among longlisted titles for Booklist Editors' Choice, 2016
Hellsmouth, an indomitable thoroughbred with the blood of Triple Crown winners in her veins, runs for the glory of the Forge family, one of Kentucky’s oldest and most powerful dynasties. Henry Forge has partnered with his daughter, Henrietta, in an endeavor of raw obsession: to breed the next superhorse, the next Secretariat. But when Allmon Shaughnessy, an ambitious young black man, comes to work on their farm after a stint in prison, the violence of the Forges’ history and the exigencies of appetite are brought starkly into view. Entangled by fear, prejudice, and lust, the three tether their personal dreams of glory to the speed and grace of Hellsmouth. A spiraling tale of wealth and poverty, racism and rage, The Sport of Kings is an unflinching portrait of lives cast in shadow by the enduring legacy of slavery. A vital new voice, C. E. Morgan has given life to a tale as mythic and fraught as the South itself—a moral epic for our time.
Praise