The books in this section are usually hardcover and in decent shape, though we'll sometimes offer hard-to-find books in lesser condition at a reduced price. Though we often put images of the book with their original dust jackets, the copies here won't always (or even often) have them. If that is important to you, please call ahead or say so in the order comments!
Each summer, in the ancient hill town of Sienna, Italy, there erupts one of the most extraordinary, exciting, and dangerous horse races in the world—the Palio. So furious is the rivalry that it is often said the Palio is more battle than race, and that "Fate is the Queen of the Palio."
This magnificent book is a true story of the Palio—a thrilling, heart-stirring tale of a boy and a beautiful half-Arabian mare who won undying fame. Marguerite Henry tells—as only she can—how the life of Giorgio Terni, a boy of the Maremma marshes, became linked in strange and dramatic fashion with that of the cart horse Gaudenzia, whose Arabian blood brought her into the contest of the Palio. When Gaudenzia is lamed in one of the wild races, it is Giorgio whose devoted care brings her back to health. And it is Giorgio who has the joy of riding her to victory in one Palio, and then the heartbreak of fighting her in the next. How he wins the title "Vittorino" and how Gaudenzia becomes the "Pride of the Palio" make a story to enthrall the heart of every reader.
All the rich pageantry and medieval splendor that surround this race of Siena are captured in the text and in Lynd Ward's glowing illustrations. In Gaudenzia, the swift excitement of King of the Wind and the warmth and human appeal of Misty of Chincoteague combine to make a glorious new favorite.
—from the dust jacket
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