Wild Horses

“I’m happily married,” I say. "We’re not together because we have children and a house, but in spite of both of those things.”

A woman moves to Husum, a suburb of Copenhagen, so her children can grow up with grass beneath their feet. Waiting there are football pitches with an angel in a hoodie, parents gathered around their children’s delicious mud pies, lethal bouncy castles, interrupted sexual encounters, and ill-timed visitors from Pakistan.  You have to ask yourself whether it’s worth the risk of walking barefoot in the discount supermarket, and where exactly you stand in the great cycle of life. As you approach forty, it becomes perfectly clear: you have a responsibility, even if it isn’t entirely obvious what that responsibility entails. Some dream of opening a pizzeria, while others simply want a steady income. The job applications pile up, the soccer balls keep flying, and the weeping willow sings beneath the sky over Husum.

Beneath the lighthearted surface lie the big questions. How do you stay yourself while adjusting to the people around you? How do you raise happy and secure children with rules and consistency when you aren’t consistent yourself? How do you find friendship while holding your own against the dull, and at times neurotic, life of the suburbs? And how do you live with the knowledge that you can be too much for some people? 

Pilgaard writes with a loving gaze and an insight that hits home. You will laugh and find tears in your eyes — often at the same time. Wild Horses is for all of us with families and neighbors — or who have simply found ourselves on a playground, wondering what part we play in the world. 

To be published September 10, 2026.