St Louis-based Anton DiSclafani grew up in northern Carolina, and rode horses competitively at a national level, a fitting bio for the author of the New York Times' best-selling novel, The Yonahlossee Riding Camp For Girls.
Theadora, or Thea, is sent away for the summer (so she initially thinks) to stay at the Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls as a form of punishment. She has packed minimal clothing (they wear uniforms, sleep in cabins, and have school lessons), along with her secrets. Really, it is a carpetbag of shame, guilt, love, longing and lust.
Thea has left behind mother, father, twin brother Sam, older cousin Georgie, an aunt and uncle, and a horse she has outgrown.
It is the time of the Great Depression. Thea has moved from Florida's heat and her privileged background as a doctor's daughter to the debutante boarding school (and riding camp) in North Carolina's Blue Ridge Mountains. She has moved from an isolated life where family and the exquisite home were everything.
Thea, surprisingly, seems to make the transition to the riding camp easily - perhaps because it is a place where girls become "ladies". She weathers unfamiliar routines and experiences without completely losing her balance.
