Laramie-based author Alyson Hagy just published a new novel called “Boleto.” It takes place in rural Wyoming and tells the story of a young man who seeks to make a name for himself by training a beautiful young horse. But Hagy says you don’t have to be a horse lover to appreciate the book.
“As much as I love animals – and I love them very much – I’m more interested in human character,” Hagy said. “And so I want this to be a novel where you don’t have to know anything about horses or ranches or trailers or raising cattle or anything, in order to appreciate that this is a young many who wants to try to make something lovely in a not-so-lovely world.”
Hagy says she feels that working with animals brings out the best in some people, and she wanted readers to gain an appreciation for the gentler, more nuanced personalities of her more rugged characters.
Hagy says she got the idea for the book while staying at a guest ranch in northwest Wyoming.
“I was fishing one day and came back, and the new corral boss was in there working with a really, really young filly,” Hagy said. “And he was so quiet and so careful with what he was doing. And I could just see that he was invested in her in a way that he wasn’t invested in the other seventy, eighty horses he was caring for.”