When Albert realizes the wounded horse is his cherished Joey, he is amazed and delighted. Through his efforts and care, Joey recovers from his wounds. Eventually, the war ends, but Albert is once again faced with losing Joey when he learns the war horses will not be returning to England with the soldiers. Instead, they are to be auctioned off in France. The soldiers gather money together and try to buy Joey for Albert, but it looks like a butcher will be the one who purchases Joey.
However, at the last minute, an old man—Emilie’s grandfather—outbids the butcher. After Albert explains he was Joey’s original owner, Emilie’s grandfather agrees to sell the horse to Albert for a very low price. As a way to keep his granddaughter’s memory alive, he asks Albert to promise to tell others about Emilie. The girl had become very sad after the horses were taken away, and died a short time later at the age of 15. In the end, Albert and Joey return to England.
Since its publication in 1982, War Horse has been adapted into a play, and a movie which was released to critical acclaim and commercial success. The 2011 movie directed by Steven Spielberg spurred even greater interest in the story, which has won people over due to its engaging characters and themes. One of the book’s main themes is friendship, as seen in the relationships between Joey and his various masters and in his strong bond with Topthorn. Other themes include duty, courage, abandonment, death, and the awfulness of war. Although Morpurgo hadn’t intended to write a sequel to War Horse, the British writer wrote one called Farm Boy, which was published in 1997, and addresses many questions readers had about what happened to Joey after World War I.
