Hamilton — Catherine Cookson

Maisie could never be quite sure when she met up with Hamilton; most likely, it was when she started talking to herself as an often lonely seven-year-old. Hamilton, an imaginary horse, had to remain a secret for many years, for what would people think of Maisie if she revealed that the only friend she had was a horse who acted as her guide, philosopher and confidant? Life was difficult enough for Maisie without that, and increasingly so as she grew to womanhood and became a wife. But if she could not talk about Hamilton, she could at least write about him. And write she did, with results that would broaden her horizons far beyond her native Tyneside.