A young adult book at the younger end of the spectrum, THE ISLAND HORSE deals with themes of love and loss, of friendship and loyalty.

Ellie is not quite ten when her mother dies and she lives quietly in Nova Scotia with her father who had given up his dock work when his wife became ill. In no position to turn down work, Ellie's father still thinks long and hard about accepting the first offer he gets in months. This offer means uprooting his daughter from their village and friends, her school and home. To encourage Ellie to regard it positively, he tells her that there are wild horses on Sable Island. Ellie is fascinated by the idea of wild horses and draws them in her sketchbook. Next day her father explains the rest of the matter. He has been offered a job with the rescue crew on Sable Island, a crescent of sand 25 miles long and a mile across, which is known as the Graveyard of the Atlantic. A tiny community of rescue workers lives there, saving lives and salvaging ships' cargoes and timbers from the frequent wrecks on the shifting sands and storm-tossed sea.

Ellie does not want to leave, but there is no choice. They journey to Halifax and sail across to Sable Island, a regular stop for sealers who hunt seals for lamp oil. Ellie sees nothing but dunes, salt grass and sky. There are no trees on the island, but there are berry bushes and certain garden vegetables can be grown. The islanders have to be as self-sufficient as possible but items like flour and beans have to be carried over from the mainland. Ellie meets a girl her own age called Sarah but, miserable and dejected, she doesn't want to make friends. The hut where she will live with her father is small and isolated.

Walking among the dunes, Ellie sees a wild stallion with a small herd. He returns each day and she manages to befriend him to the point of giving him an apple. Then Ellie hears that a roundup of horses is about to take place. The best will be sold off to raise money for the lifesaving work. She has witnessed this work herself, when her father and a team of the other men waited out the worst of a storm before rowing across the waves to rescue seven sailors from a stricken ship. Ellie is terrified that her stallion, which she has named Orchid, will be caught up, but her father has to keep his job and she has rejected the offer of friendship from the one girl who might have helped her.

This delightful tale by Susan Hughes evokes a hard life, the bravery and simplicity of the rescue station as well as the dangers faced by sailors. The spirited bay stallion, shaggy-coated and long-tailed with his natural caution tempered by curiosity, remains in the mind when THE ISLAND HORSE has been closed.