The Filly [Paperback]

 

 

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Seventeen-year-old Ethan Keller lives a simple life, spending his days working as a clerk in his small town's general store, and his evenings at his widowed mother's boarding house dinner table.

Ethan's never considered a life beyond the sheltered reach of a dutiful second son trying to keep his older brother, Willie, out of trouble, finding snippets of time to indulge his love of reading and dreaming of buying a colt or filly of his own some day.

All of that changes when a charismatic and persistent young cowboy named Travis Cain walks into his life.

Sensing a kindred spirit, Travis dares Ethan to dream beyond that which he's ever dared, and soon convinces Ethan to sign on to the Hayward Ranch's summer cattle drive. During the journey from Texas to Cheyenne, Ethan and Travis test the limits of their endurance, explore the bonds of true friendship, and discover a love that will eventually risk everything they hold dear.

In THE FILLY, author Mark R. Probst combines the tender beauty of love - be it the blossoming romance between two young men at a time when the only term to characterize their relationship came in the form of Biblical condemnation, the fierce protectiveness of families for their own, or friendships forged in the most dire of circumstances - with the gritty, bare-boned realism of life in the old west.

There were a few times when I was jarred from the narrative by an inconsistency of language, a bit of cardboard characterization among many of the novel's secondary players, and an ending that came too abruptly for my personal taste, but these factors were far outweighed by the depth and sensitivity in Mr. Probst's depictions of Ethan, Travis, and their relationship.

Reviewed by: Cat

Mark R. Probst is an author with a marvellously rich imagination, and his first novel, "The Filly," is proof positive of this statement.

It is set in a small town in Texas in the 1870s, where we find seventeen-year-old Ethan Keller at work in Mr. Simpson's general store. It is one of those quaint emporiums that sells almost everything imaginable, from biscuits to jigsaw puzzles, and in his spare time Ethan reads his beloved novels.

Ethan is a nice, intelligent kid, somewhat shy and naïve due to his sheltered life with his devoted, but widowed mother, so he finds adventure in reading such books as Tale of Two Cities. It is not surprising therefore that he is intrigued by a handsome, worldly cowboy named Travis Cain, who comes riding through looking for work.

Travis is equally attracted to Ethan, and a friendship quickly forms between them. The catalyst is "Cleo," Cain's beautiful and spirited mare, and from this we learn that, in spite of his bookish nature, Ethan is an experienced and talented rider. Moreover, his abiding ambition is to one day own one of his own--particularly a filly. These points come into play later on in the novel, which makes them both a logical progression in the stort.

The two other central characters are Miss Peet, Ethan's former schoolmistress, and his older brother William. Miss Peet is a somewhat man hungry spinster, and William is a hard drinking, whore loving rebel, but intensely loyal to his "little brother."

Having thus created a cast of interesting and colourful characters, the author then sets them to work interacting with one another in almost comedic fashion. First, he establishes a bond between Ethan and Travis, and then casts Miss Peet into the arena with her with her rather rapacious eyes on Travis Cain as well.

I hasten to add that "The Filly" is far from a comedy, but I found this particular juxtaposition quite charming--as is the novel, overall.

The real turning point in the story is when Travis convinces Ethan to join him on a 900-hundred mile cattle drive. This is where Mark Probst's vivid imagination really begins to shine. I have read firsthand accounts of similar drives, and his account parallels these in both accuracy and atmosphere. Major drives like these were no cakewalks, and it was the making--or breaking of a man to undertake one of these gruelling treks.

Every kind of condition could be expected, from fording rivers to crossing parching deserts, and sometimes sickness and death resulted. Nevertheless, it bound men together as only such extreme conditions could, and Ethan and Travis were two of them. However, their bond was far deeper than most, and equally challenging as they prepared to make a future together.

Strong points: Mark Probst's imagination, and his obvious knowledge and dedication to western lore, his characterization--for they are all good, strong characters, and also his courage to undertake his first novel.

Not so strong points: Well ... Travis does come across as a bit too articulate for his station. I was hoping that his mother might be a cultured lady who had schooled him, but that wasn't the case when I met her in the novel. Nevertheless, this is only a minor quibble, and it does not detract from the overall enjoyment of the story.

Definitely recommended: The Filly by author Mark R. Probst. It is a charming story of coming out and gay romance set against the rugged background of the `old' west. It is also a refreshingly unique perspective of cowboy life. -Review by Gerry Burnie, author of Two Irish Lads.

This novel caught me up in the story from the first page and kept my interest throughout. The setting was so well described and the characters' behaviour was so appropriate for the times that it was easy to share the emotions and the doubts of the main characters as they went about their daily lives. Ethan is a 17-year-old second son living on a small farm by a tiny town in the middle of nowhere, Texas, 40 miles west of San Antonio in the 1870s. Sadly, Ethan is just a little different from the other kids he went to school with. Unlike most boys of his age, he liked school and actually finished grade 12. He loves to read and books are his window to a larger world. A true innocent, Ethan's never been away from his area and has very little life experience. In the USA of the 1870s, boys didn't talk about their feelings; they did what everybody did and behaved like everyone else. Men were expected to court and marry women and women were expected to marry and have children. So where does a young man fit in who feels no attraction to that kind of life? And what happens when such a young man meets another, more experienced man, who slowly opens up his horizons to a first experience of real love? This is a beautiful, tender romance that describes the awakening feelings of a young man as he comes of age. Remember that this was a time when sodomites were beaten, imprisoned and even hanged. While Ethan might have met someone had he lived in a large city, out in the middle of nowhere he was pretty much on his own, with his books. Travis is a young cowboy a few years older than Ethan but with life experiences gained from extensive travel throughout much of the USA. He encountered various women and men as well and has experienced sexual relations with both. Travis knows he's gay and he senses a similar bent in Ethan. When Ethan meets Travis, his life changes, but the change is slow and gradual. As our heroes leave on a three-month cattle drive we observe the gradually deepening attraction between the two friends. The author has a particularly deft touch as he lets the reader share the emotions, doubts, and love that blossoms between Travis and Ethan. This is no mere physical encounter but rather a true love story. At the end of the drive Ethan has experiences that he couldn't have dreamed of three months earlier and he and Travis have come to see themselves as committed partners, albeit with a relationship that needs to be kept hidden from view. On his return home, unfortunately, Ethan makes the serious mistake of confessing his feelings for Travis in a conversation with Miss Peet, Ethan's former school teacher, who has set her cap for Travis. I'm wondering why the author has Travis do this unless it's solely to facilitate a later scene where Miss Peet speaks up publicly. Without giving away the ending, I must say that the ordeal that Travis undergoes was quite a shock. But, again, it was probably necessary as a plot device so that the conclusion could be what the author wanted. I heartily recommend this book. It has excellent character development with both main characters being extremely likeable, a nice plot line, at least until the nasty part, and a conclusion that actually works. I felt a profound understanding of the isolation and emotional emptiness in which Travis grew up and could relate well to his awakening as his bond with Travis grew. Mercifully, this book wasn't about sex and the only references to anything physical were a couple of bathing scenes in which there was nudity. This way of telling the story made it that much more emotional rather than merely sexual. When I had finished the book I couldn't help thinking what an unfriendly world it was back then to anyone who was different from society's norms. And I couldn't help also reflecting on my own life growing up in a part of the country not too different from the setting of this novel, with people whose attitudes were basically still very similar. This is one book that I'll read again and I would be delighted to read a sequel to find out what happens to our two heroes as they approach the new century.

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