Telling the story of a fairly unusual trio, this picture book tackles the topic of loneliness and community. The story opens with a white horse that becomes separated from its herd and runs away. In an orchard, the horse finds a red apple that was overlooked at harvest time and now hangs on the branch all by itself. The two of them travel on together – the apple comfortably tucked under the horse’s mane, until it suddenly plops into a brook. A field worker leaves his work, fishes the apple out of the water, attaches it to the white’s mane, and sets off with these two – into the happy ever after.

Renowned author, poet, and scriptwriter Ahmad Reza Ahmadi’s poetic text is accompanied by Rashin Kheiriyeh’s cheerful double-spread colour illustrations, which perfectly mirror the story’s fairytale-like atmosphere. A felicitous contrast is achieved through the unusually designed text pages by Kuroush Parsanezad. Their lines placed against a coloured background as well as the silhouette-like horse vignettes emanate a certain elegance.

For ages 8 and up.

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