All the Pretty Horses (novel)

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All the Pretty Horses

Author	Cormac McCarthy
Language	English
Series	Border Trilogy
Publisher	Alfred A. Knopf
Publication date	May 1992
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (hardback & paperback)
Pages	301 pp (first edition, hardback)
ISBN	0-394-57474-5 (first edition, hardback)
OCLC	25704649
Dewey Decimal	813/.54 20
LC Class	PS3563.C337 A79 1992
Followed by	The Crossing

All the Pretty Horses is a novel by American author Cormac McCarthy published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1992. It was a bestseller, winning both the U.S. National Book Award^[1] and the National Book Critics Circle Award. It is the first of McCarthy's "Border Trilogy".

The book follows John Grady Cole. In 1949, his grandfather dies, and his family ranch is being sold. He and his best friend, Lacey Rawlins, travel to Mexico via horseback to find work as cowboys. The two friends team up with mysterious Jimmy Blevins and escape arrest. Eventually, John Grady and Rawlins find work at a ranch. There, John Grady has an affair with the ranch owner's daughter, Alejandra. The three boys are eventually found and arrested. In his escape, John Grady is severely wounded. He eventually returns to the United States after rescuing Rawlins and Alejandra rejecting his marriage proposal. He returns to Rawlins his horse but fails to find the owner of Blevins' horse. He eventually goes out West with Blevins' horse after the last link to his family dies.

The book was adapted as a 2000 film starring Matt Damon and Penélope Cruz and directed by Billy Bob Thornton.