Alone in the world, Jay Barton is a teenage misfit with nothing much going for her, except an extraordinary talent for understanding racehorses - and riding them. In a desperate attempt to escape her unpalatable trickster uncle, Jay leaves home to work at a racing stable, where she forms a bond with a beautiful gray mare named Manhattan - brilliant, misunderstood, dangerous, and headed for racing's scrap heap. Jay recognizes a fellow misfit and fights to give Manhattan one last opportunity to show she is the champion she was born to be. Together, they face a world of prejudice and cruelty and fight back the only way they know how - by becoming the best.
This is a story of courage, of sacrifice, and of survival. This is the story of a rat and a boy whose fates become inextricably linked as their two worlds collide. Efren, a bold young ratling, dares to journey above the underground rat kingdom, where he discovers Dr. Ross-Gibbon’s plan to exterminate the rat population. Dogboy, assistant to Dr. Ross-Gibbon, is an abandoned thirteen-year-old with a gift for understanding animals. As war wages between the human world and the rat kingdom, Dogboy must decide where his allegiances truly lie. An elaborate web of characters, a rich back-story, and startling revelations form this poignant tale of heartwarming kindness and gut-wrenching cruelty. Does hatred know no limits? Or are friendship, love, and loyalty strong enough to prevail?
