About the author
Siegfried Stander was born in South Africa. He was an author and journalist, who wrote crime novels and political thrillers, and collaborated on several books with heart surgeon Christiaan Barnard. He also wrote a stark and unsettling horse story, set in Africa. The Horse is definitely not a children’s book, and is a brutal story unrelieved by anything very much: I have done a longer review of the book here. The Horse, and one of his earlier novels, This Desert Place (1961), both won the CNA Award.
Finding the book
Very easy to find, and usually cheap.
Links and sources
Seigfried Stander in the Who’s Who of South African Crime Writing (link no longer extant)
ESAACH on Siegfried Sander (link no longer extant)
A (not very positive) review of one of the Standar/Barnard collaborations, The Unwanted
Bibliography (horse book only)
The horse
Die Silwer Hings, 1969
Victor Gollancz, London, 1968
New English Library, 1969, pb, 108
A small herd of horses are being transported across the African bush, but they are attacked by lions. The new foal’s mother is killed, and he escapes and is adopted by a zebra herd. He grows up with the zebras, and eventually takes over from the zebra stallion. He leads a reasonably successful life until he is spotted by Niemand, who is supposed to be hunting for elephants and ivory, but cannot resist the temptation to capture the horse.
