From the New York Times best-selling author of Disney’s Villains series comes a ghostly new stand-alone novel that reimagines The Legend of Sleepy Hollow through the eyes of a modern teen. Serena Valentino fans will delight in this supernatural coming-of-age tale that finally gives the women of Sleepy Hollow a chance to tell their side of the story.
What is the Raising the Horseman about?
The two-hundredth anniversary of the Headless Horseman's legendary haunting of Sleepy Hollow is approaching, but Kat van Tassel wants nothing to do with the town's superstitious celebrations. As a descendant of the original Katrina van Tassel, Kat knows she’s expected to fulfill her ancestor’s legacy by someday marrying her longtime boyfriend and running the prestigious family estate. But Kat dreams of a life outside Sleepy Hollow.
Then Kat meets Isadora, a new girl in town who challenges Kat to reexamine those expectations, opens her eyes to the possibility that ghosts are real, and makes her question who she truly wants to be . . . and be with. When Kat is given the original Katrina’s diary, a new legend begins to take shape, one that weaves together the past and the present in eerie ways. Can Kat uncover a two-hundred-year-old secret, and trace its shocking reverberations in her own life, in time to protect what she truly loves?
Raising the Horseman transforms the Headless Horseman’s tale into Katrina Van Tassel’s tale
Raising the Horseman brings the beloved Sleepy Hollow story into the modern age. It creatively blends old with new, making this story an instant hit for Headless Horseman fans and readers who may be unfamiliar with the classic tale.
This story is a compelling, female-driven account of a story previously dominated by men, namely Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman himself. The Van Tassel women are tasked with running Sleepy Hollow and preserving the legend of the Headless Horseman, while navigating their own individual desires for themselves for the future. There are lots of complicated moving parts to the life of Kat Van Tassel, complicated further by her unconventional relationship with her ancestor, Katrina, who is one of many ghosts that occupy present day Sleepy Hollow.
The chapters flip between modern-day, third-person, Kat Van Tassel and the life of Katrina Van Tassel which is predominantly experienced through her diary entries. Valentino does a masterful job of fusing and overlapping the stories with different writing styles while making both intriguing on their own merit. The relationship between Kat and Katrina’s tales enriches the beloved classic legend while simultaneously shedding new light via a whole new story.
Kat’s relationship with various characters, as well as many of the individual character arcs, is wonderfully explored in different ways. Kat’s romantic relationship with Isadora springs from Kat’s doomed relationship with Blake, despite Blake being what she perceived to be her parent’s choice. Kat also grows to understand more about where her parents’ views and expectations come from, and her parents too, grow to understand and be more considerate of her wishes. (In one chapter, Kat has an endearing heart-to-heart with her dad, which is not the sort of dialogue that one would have originally envisioned happening between a stern, old-school, Baltus Van Tassel and his teenage daughter.) Such thoughtful storytelling jumps off the page and urges readers to reconsider what their assumptions and expectations might be – for others and for themselves. Another great example is Brom’s character arc, which (without giving too much away), is heavily impacted by his experience with the Headless Horseman. Similar to Kat’s experiences, Katrina and Brom’s relationship is also not as linear as one might assume. There are some great character dynamics to unpack at every turn of the page.
Ultimately, Raising the Horseman raises Katrina Van Tassel. It is the Headless Horseman’s tale framed as an all-new, inviting, eye-opening account of Katrina Van Tassel’s tale. It gives voice to the woman who has always been there – just as important as the men who have dominated the legend to date. It is accentuated by interesting new characters and character struggles, diary entries, and time travel only a place like Sleepy Hollow would experience.
Raising the Horseman will be released on September 6th, 2022.