Foal’s Bread — Gillian Mears

Title: Foal’s Bread
Author: Gillian Mears
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
ISBN: 978-1-74331-185-1
Binding: Softcover

Edition: 2012 edition (first published 2011)

Condition: Good second-hand condition. Light creasing and shelf wear to covers and spine edges with minor handling marks from use. Binding remains solid and pages clean and readable.

An acclaimed Australian literary novel by Gillian Mears, winner of the 2012 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award and the Prime Minister’s Literary Award for Fiction. Set in rural New South Wales across several decades, Foal’s Bread follows the Nancarrow family and their deep connection to horses, show-jumping, hardship, and country life.

The novel blends realism with moments of mythic and folkloric intensity, centring on the extraordinary bond between humans and animals. Mears writes with a distinctly Australian voice, capturing both the physical landscape and the emotional texture of rural communities with unusual sensitivity.

At its core, the book explores love, disability, endurance, sacrifice, and ambition. The horse imagery is not merely decorative — it forms the emotional and symbolic centre of the novel, giving the story an almost dreamlike quality at times.