Women and Horses

Women and horses in their daily lives and in fantasy lives have an extraordinary bond.

Book One: Airs Beneath the Moon

by Toby Bishop

Airs Beneath the Moon is a story of the winged horses of Oc and the women and girls who fly them. The girls who bond with a winged horse spend six years at the Academy of the Air, training. Their bondmates are closer to them than any family member could be, and they devote their entire lives to them. But the son of the Duke of Oc, William, thinks men should also be able to fly, and he will go to any length to make that happen.

Book Two: Airs and Graces

by Toby Bishop

Larkyn Hamley, the free-spirited country girl who accidentally bonded with a winged horse, is in her second term at the Academy of the Air when the savage Aesks attack a northern village. The Duke refuses to respond, and Larkyn and her beloved teacher, Horsemistress Philippa Winter, find themselves in direct conflict with Duke William as chaos threatens the Duchy of Oc. Philippa's career, and even Lark's life, hang in the balance.

Coming soon:

Book Three: Airs of Night and Sea

More extraordinary women and horses.

In the third book in the Horsemistress Saga, begun by Airs beneath the Moon (2006) and continued in Airs and Graces (2007), young Larkyn Hamley is nearing graduation from the Academy of the Air, but the academy is under threat from the mad Duke William, who plans to close it and open his own flying school devoted to training well-born young men to ride the flying horses of Oc, none of which has ever tolerated having men anywhere nearby.

William has posted soldiers at the academy in the hope of capturing the girls’ instructor, Mistress Philippa Winter, who has been forced into hiding.

The scenes of horses and riders in flight and battle are breathtaking; political machinations abound; and the dangers to the academy staff and students are palpable as Lark and her beloved horse, Tup, join forces with Mistress Winter and others in a desperate effort to thwart the duke’s evil plans. The saga’s fans are sure to welcome the latest installment. --Sally Estes

More Reviews:

Strong character development, politics, and magical horses all add up to what promises to be a lively and engaging trilogy.-- Monsters and Critics

Bishop enables us to visualize the horses in solo flight and complicated formations, scenes at the academy are utterly real, and the characters have dimension. A thoroughly satisfying read. -- Booklist

The Horsemistress Saga promises to be an exciting ride. -- BookLoons

The more I read, the more involved and in love I am with these books. They are completely absorbing. The world that is created is so rich and full and real. The characters are wonderfully interesting and well-developed. I feel like I live inside this world and I know these people. This is great fantasy at work.

I'm not ready for this series to be done yet, and thankfully it isn't, but I'm not sure I ever want it to end. --TeensReadToo.com Women and horses, especially winged horses, strongth and beauty.

The Author:

Toby Bishop grew up around horses.

"I wanted to write about women and winged horses because horses – and particularly those that can fly – are an avenue of power for women. When I was growing up, girls were still being told not to let boys know how smart we were, so to pair a girl with such a powerful creature in a working relationship is a kind of wish fulfillment."