When Francis and Ava go to Thailand for two years, the expect to come back to Australia changed. They do come back different, but not in the way they had hoped. Both find life back in Australia increasingly unsatisfying, but neither really understands the cause of this dissatisfaction.
Meanwhile, in Thailand, Nikkon, a farm labourer, finds his own life a struggle as he tries to negotiate a spiritually and emotionally satisfying path through life. While Nikkon’s and Francis’s paths do cross, the stories are parallel rather than intertwined, exploring how disenchantment is a human condition not confined to particular cultures or circumstances.
Noble Sindhu Horses is a story whose theme will resonate with many readers. Ava, Francis and Nikkon are characters whose inner lives are believable and for whom it is possible to have empathy – making the story moving and very real.
Noble Sindhu Horses, by Lynette Chataway
Pandanus Books, 2005