In Green

LONGLISTED FOR THE SALTIRE BOOK AWARDS 2025

‘A classic adventure narrative in the vein of Patrick Leigh Fermor and Robert Louis Stevenson… life-changing’ CAL FLYN, author of Islands of Abandonment

In his mid-twenties, city-bound and restless, Louis D. Hall found himself uncertain. How to create a life he wanted to lead? Inspired by Don Quixote, he decided to fulfil a childhood dream – to make an uncharted journey on horseback.

After finding his horse, Sasha, in Italy’s Apennine Mountains, Louis set off and headed west. His destination: Cape Finisterre, ‘the end of the land’. For three weeks Louis and Sasha survived storms, snow, wolves and the untrodden partisan paths of the Ligurian Alps. But then a young woman arrived with her horse, Istia, and their solitary world was broken. Kiki, adrift with the death of her sibling, joined the journey, and the duo continued together.

With every step and every fall, the pair are forced to unfold and trust in their horses and, eventually, each other. Using old and forgotten routes, guided by strangers and nature’s clues, the travellers unravel into a wilder way of life; united by the mysteries of the horse, enticed by the illusions of adventure.

Author Biography

After growing up in Scotland, Louis D. Hall went on a trip to northern Mongolia, aged 18, in search of the Tsaatan tribe. It was on this trek that he first encountered the connecting powers of the horse. He then embarked upon a 1147-mile ride down the length of the UK, which raised money for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust and laid the foundation for The Big Hoof, a Scottish a mental health charity that creates long distance rides. Since his 110-day journey across Europe with Sasha, Louis has been working for NGO Insulate Ukraine. He lives between Kyiv, Oxford and Amsterdam.