THE HORSE AND HIS BOY
C. S. Lewis

Published: 1954
Publication order: 5 of 7
Chronological order: 3 of 7

SYNOPSIS

A boy named Shasta has grown up in the southern land of Calormen believing that a fisherman named Arsheesh is his father.

When Shasta discovers that he is about to be sold to a powerful Calormene nobleman, he escapes with the nobleman's horse, Bree. To Shasta's astonishment, Bree can speak and reveals that he is actually a Narnian talking horse who was captured when young.

They begin a journey north towards Narnia and freedom. Along the way they meet Aravis, a young Calormene noblewoman fleeing an arranged marriage, and her talking horse Hwin.

Their journey takes them through the great city of Tashbaan and across the desert, where they discover a plot that threatens both Archenland and Narnia.

Shasta eventually learns that his own origins are very different from anything he had imagined.

ORDER NOTE

Although this was the fifth Narnia book Lewis published, it is the third story chronologically.

It takes place during the period near the end of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe when Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy are adults and are ruling Narnia as kings and queens.

Lewis deliberately returned to an earlier period of Narnian history to tell this story.