copyright 1968; Farrar, Straus & Giroux publishers, New York; hardbound, 472 pages; very good condition with unmarked pages; no dust jacket.
description -
The Horsemen is an epic novel of man pitted against nature. The setting is Afghanistan--a country of rugged landscape and savage winds, at the crossroads of Asia, where people live today much as they did eight hundred years ago. A match of buzkashi (a savage tournament of horsemen) is to be held in the capital to celebrate the king's birthday. Uraz, son of the renowed Master-of-the-Horse, Tursen, is riding in the place of his father, who is now too old to participate in the contest. Although Tursen grudgingly promises his son Jahil, the fiercest of his stallions, he bitterly resents his son's replacing him and secretly hopes that he will lose. Jahil is indeed the winning horse, but not with Uraz as his rider. The young man is thrown from the horse and taken to the king's hospital.