Book Review: A Girl and Five Brave Horses by Sonora Carver
A Girl and Five Brave Horses
Author: Sonora Carver
Narrator: Laci Morgan
First Published: 1961
Audiobook: 6 hours 8 minutes
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Listened To: November 1-5, 2025
Jessica’s Rating: 3.5 stars
Book Description:
In the roaring ’20s, adventurous young Sonora Webster sees an exciting act that will change her life forever. Hooves pound as a horse gallops up the ramp of a 40-foot-tall tower. A girl in a sparkly swimsuit waits at the top, and at the last possible second, leaps on its back as they dive through the air, falling to a tank of water far below with thunderous applause.
Sonora is hooked. From that moment on, she is determined to BE that girl, despite the danger, and endeavors to join the diving horse troupe. This memoir follows her exciting career and life on the road as a traveling performer with W.F. Carver’s stunt show, even after she was blinded in an accident. Despite her lack of sight, she continued to dive for eleven years, becoming an inspiration to blind and disabled people who heard her story. Sonora’s life even inspired the beloved 1991 movie, Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken.
Full of twists and turns, humorous animal tales, moments of tragedy, and hope, listeners will enjoy this exciting true tale of a strong American woman finding her place in history during the Great Depression, with an unbreakable spirit and the help of her brave horse partners.
Jessica’s Review:
If you have seen the movie Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken, then you know the very basic story about Sonora Carver. A Girl and Five Brave Horses is Sonora’s story in her own words. This is the story of a life of determination and strength despite the unexpected events that life can be the cause of.
The movie gives the basis of what happens in her life and Sonora’s memoir adds to it. At times the memoir was detailed and other times it isn’t. I wanted to know more about Sonora’s family (especially her relationship with her sister Arnette) and more on her relationship with Al, unfortunately which we don’t get. The movie leads you to believe that Al is much younger than he actually was: Al was about 20 years older than Sonora. The movie does not show that Arnette was a part of Sonora’s life during her horse diving. And for taking place during the Depression, we are not told how life was for those living during that time.
We do get details about Sonora’s treatment for her eyes and her adjustment into life without sight. Growing up and loving the film, I think I went in with big expectations for the memoir and I was disappointed. I feel we could have been given so much more than what we got. There were just details for some events and then other important events were just rushed through. Carver was from another time and maybe that was why we didn’t get as much details as we would get if this story happened now. This could be because Sonora is telling her story to someone else versus actually writing it.
I really don’t like giving a lower rating (3.5 stars) for a memoir, which is someone’s life, but there was so much more that could have been with this memoir than what we got.
Audiobook Review: Free: My Search for Meaning by Amanda Knox
Free: My Search for Meaning
Author: Amanda Knox
Narrator: Amanda Knox
Published: March 25, 2025
Audiobook: 10 hours 18 minutes
Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Read: April 21-27, 2025
Jessica’s Rating: 4 stars
Book Description:
Amanda Knox reflects on her world-famous confinement in an Italian prison—and her return to an “ordinary” life—to reveal hard-won truths about purpose and fulfillment that will resonate with anyone who has ever felt trapped in their own circumstances.
Amanda Knox spent nearly four years in prison and eight years on trial for a murder she didn’t commit—and became a notorious tabloid story in the process. Though she was exonerated, it’s taken more than a decade for her to reclaim her identity and truly feel free.
Free recounts how Knox survived incarceration, the mistakes she made and misadventures she had reintegrating into society, and culminates in the as-yet-untold story of her return to Italy and the extraordinary relationship she went on to build with the man who sent her to prison. It is the moving saga of how she wrests back her own life from the grip of her story’s notoriety and returns to the quiet matters of a normal life—seeking a life partner, finding a job, or even just going out in public.
In harrowing (and sometimes hilarious) detail, Amanda reveals her personal growth and hard-fought wisdom, recasting her public reckoning as a private reflection on the search for meaning and purpose that will speak to everyone who has persevered through hardship.
Jessica’s Review:
Amanda Knox: Hers is a name we all know and think we know the story, but we don’t. There is so much more to her story and after her eventual acquittal. Free: My Search for Meaning gives us her story of moving on and becoming the strong woman that she is.
Free does mention some of her time in prison, but the main focus is her life afterwards. She works to persevere and rise above her past challenges to become whom she now is. She is herself without apology, take it or leave it, and like her or don’t.
I learned more about her and her story. I was not aware that she eventually married and has children. She also developed a relationship with her former prosecutor Giuliano Mignini, eventually writing him and shockingly becoming friends! She is a stronger woman that I am. I could never see myself reaching out to the man who believed I killed my roommate and who was determined to see me be in prison for as long as possible.
Knox is very eloquent in both her writing and narration. She has definitely become Free and has moved on in her life. Thank you for bringing your story to us Amanda.
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Book Review: Diary from the Lunatic Asylum by Mary Pengilly
Diary from the Lunatic Asylum
Author: Mary Pengilly
Published: November 2, 2012
28 Pages
Reviewed By: Kim
Kim’s Rating: 4 stars
Book Description:
DECEMBER.—They will not allow me to go home, and I must write these things down for fear I forget. It will help to pass the time away. It is very hard to endure this prison life, and know that my sons think me insane when I am not.
Kim’s Review:
So this isn’t a horror story; it’s not even fiction. I’m not gonna lie, I was a little disappointed. However, once I figured out that this was an actual diary, written by a real woman who had been committed to a real asylum, I just went for it. It’s definitely not as good as Nellie Bly’s account, but it was interesting and informative. Mrs. Pengilly managed to write an account from a relatively neutral viewpoint, while still keeping a handle on all the problems. It’s a simple, easy to read report on her stay, the issues in the Aylin’s of her time, and a list of solutions. I looked up Mrs. Pengilly after I finished reading this book, and she went on to spearhead some cool movements to try to improve conditions for female patients.
It’s not a book I’d recommend to everyone, but it’s a good personal story that I enjoyed reading.
Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
