Sara Gruen
Sara Gruen has published 5 books across 2 series. The recommended reading order starts with Flying Changes (2007).
Sara Gruen is a Canadian-American author who writes literary, contemporary, and historical fiction. She moved to the United States for a technical writing job. After she was laid off, Gruen decided to pursue writing fiction full-time. Her books have been translated into 43 languages and have sold more than 10 million copies worldwide. Gruen made her debut as a published author in 2004 with the novel Riding Lessons. She lives in North Carolina with her husband and three sons, along with their dogs, cats, horses, birds, and a goat. She also has her eye on acquiring another horse and a donkey.
Shelf & Shadows
Order of Riding Lessons Books
- Tags---DescriptionAnnemarie Zimmer left competitive riding twenty years ago, and now her relationship with the man she loves feels uncertain while her teenage daughter Eva chases the Olympic dream Annemarie once abandoned. Flying Changes, the 2007 sequel to Riding Lessons, follows the family at Maple Brook as Eva receives an invitation to audition for a world-class trainer. Annemarie knows she must let her daughter try, even if it means watching Eva leave home and risk the dangers that ended her own career. Then Eva falls in love with a blue roan Nokota who has refused every rider since arriving at the barn. The horse is spectacular and unbroken, and Eva is determined. Annemarie's old fears return in full force. As she struggles to make peace with her past, an event occurs that changes everything for the fragile world she has built. The family must now face what it means to give a daughter wings, to trust a horse no one else can ride, and to break the fears that have shaped them all.Publication date3 April 2007Amazon rating4.3/5Print length400LanguageEnglishPublisherWilliam Morrow & Company
- TagsfantasyDescriptionTwenty years ago, a riding accident ended Annemarie Zimmer's Olympic equestrian career and killed Harry, the horse she loved. Riding Lessons is a novel about what happens when she returns to her dying father's New Hampshire horse farm — jobless, abandoned by her husband, and bringing her troubled teenage daughter Eva to the one place she has spent two decades trying to forget. The farm still holds the veterinarian Annemarie loved as a girl, now a man offering quiet kindness she isn't sure she deserves. It also holds a charismatic trainer whose attention feels like a second chance. But everything shifts when Annemarie glimpses a red and white striped gelding in the stables — a horse with markings so like Harry's that she cannot look away. The resemblance becomes an obsession, one that pulls her back into the grief and longing she thought she had buried. The closer Annemarie gets to the truth about the horse, the more her fragile new life begins to crack. What she wants most may be the thing that destroys what little she has left.Publication date17 September 2009Amazon rating4.1/5Print length416LanguageEnglishPublisherHarperCollins US
Order of Standalone Novels
- Tagsromancehistorical-fictionDescriptionWater for Elephants is a historical novel set during the Great Depression, told by Jacob Jankowski at age ninety as he remembers the circus world that saved him and nearly destroyed him. Orphaned and penniless as a veterinary student one exam short of his degree, Jacob jumps a train in desperation and finds himself aboard the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. The circus puts him in charge of its menagerie, and the work becomes both his salvation and a living hell. There he meets Marlena, the beautiful equestrian star, and her husband August, the charismatic animal trainer whose brutality extends beyond the ring. He also meets Rosie, an elephant the third-rate show has staked its future on despite her reputation as untrainable. As Jacob grows closer to Marlena and discovers what August is capable of, a bond forms among the three of them and Rosie, built on love and trust in a world that offers little of either. That bond may be their only hope for survival, but survival in a failing circus run by violent men requires more than hope. The question is whether the trust they have built can hold when everything else collapses.Publication date1 May 2007Amazon rating4.5/5Print length352LanguageEnglishPublisherAlgonquin Books
- Tags---DescriptionSix bonobos at the Great Ape Language Lab can communicate through American Sign Language, and Isabel Duncan, the scientist who works with them, understands Sam, Bonzi, Lola, Mbongo, Jelani, and Makena better than she has ever understood people. When reporter John Thigpen arrives to write a human interest piece, Isabel begins to feel at ease with her own species for the first time — until an explosion tears through the lab, injuring Isabel and scattering the apes. Ape House, Sara Gruen's 2011 novel, turns that disaster into a deeper betrayal: the bonobos resurface on a reality television show, their intelligence and relationships repackaged as entertainment. John's assignment becomes the story of his career, one that will cost him professionally and personally if he follows it to the end. Isabel must leave the safety of the lab and navigate a world of exploitation and spectacle to bring her family of apes home — which means learning to connect with the humans she has spent a lifetime avoiding.Publication date5 April 2011Amazon rating4.3/5Print length336LanguageEnglishPublisherRandom House
- TagsmysterysuspensethrillerDescriptionMadeline Hyde is a Philadelphia socialite whose husband has just been cut off by his father, a retired army colonel ashamed that Ellis cannot serve in the war. At the Water's Edge is a novel about what happens when Ellis decides the only way back into his father's good graces is to succeed where the colonel failed: by hunting the Loch Ness monster. In January 1945, Maddie follows Ellis and his best friend Hank to a remote village in the Scottish Highlands, leaving behind the only world she has ever known. While the men spend their days searching for the monster, Maddie is left alone in a country at war. The friendships she forms with the townspeople begin to crack open her understanding of who she is and what her life might become. She sees that nothing in her sheltered past was as it appeared. As she grows closer to the village and its people, she becomes aware of darker forces moving around her — and of possibilities she never imagined for herself. The question is whether she can become someone new, or whether the life she married into will pull her back.Publication date10 November 2015Amazon rating4/5Print length416LanguageEnglishPublisherRandom House Group
Frequently Asked Questions about Sara Gruen
Sara Gruen writes both standalone novels and series. The Order of Riding Lessons series includes Flying Changes, published in 2007, and Riding Lessons, published in 2009. Her standalone novels are Water for Elephants (2007), Ape House (2011), and At the Water's Edge (2015). This means she has written a total of five books. Gruen's bibliography is divided between these two categories, offering readers a choice between connected narratives and individual stories.
A good starting point for Sara Gruen's books is often considered to be Water for Elephants, published in 2007. This novel achieved significant recognition and introduced many readers to her writing style. Alternatively, Flying Changes, the first book in the Order of Riding Lessons series, also published in 2007, provides an entry into her work within that specific narrative arc. Both options offer a solid introduction to her storytelling.
The books in the Order of Riding Lessons series, Flying Changes and Riding Lessons, are intended to be read in order. While a reader might be able to follow the plot of the second book without having read the first, the full narrative and character development are best appreciated by starting with Flying Changes. The standalone novels, such as Water for Elephants and Ape House, do not require any prior reading.
Sara Gruen writes both standalone novels and series. The Order of Riding Lessons series consists of two books: Flying Changes and Riding Lessons. Her standalone novels include Water for Elephants, Ape House, and At the Water's Edge. This structure allows readers to engage with her work in different ways, either by following a continuing story or by picking up individual, self-contained narratives.
Sara Gruen has written a total of five books. This count includes the two books in her Order of Riding Lessons series, Flying Changes and Riding Lessons, as well as her three standalone novels: Water for Elephants, Ape House, and At the Water's Edge. This provides a focused body of work for readers to explore.
The first book Sara Gruen wrote was Flying Changes, published in 2007. This novel is part of the Order of Riding Lessons series. It established her presence in the literary world and set the stage for her subsequent works. Notably, Water for Elephants, another book published in 2007, is often mistaken for her debut due to its widespread popularity.
Sara Gruen's most recent book is At the Water's Edge, published in 2015. This standalone novel is part of her collection of single-narrative works. Following this release, she has not published any further books as of the latest available information. Readers interested in her most recent storytelling can turn to this title.
Sara Gruen writes historical fiction and contemporary fiction with a focus on animal welfare and human relationships. Her books often feature compelling narratives set against detailed backdrops, exploring themes of connection, resilience, and the human-animal bond. While specific genre labels can vary, her work is characterized by strong character development and engaging plots.
Sarah Waters
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James Clavell
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We verified the reading order for Sara Gruen's books by cross-referencing official publication dates, ISBN databases, and publisher catalogs.
Last verified: July 2026
Shelf & Shadows. (…). “Sara Gruen Books in Order.” Retrieved …, from https://www.shelfandshadows.com/authors/sara-gruen