All the Pretty Horses is a novel by U.S. author Cormac McCarthy released in 1992. Its romanticism (in contrast to the apocalyptic bleakness of McCarthy's earlier work) brought the writer much public attention, spending some time on bestseller charts, earning the U.S. National Book Award, and being adapted into a blockbuster film, starring Matt Damon and Penélope Cruz, and directed by Billy Bob Thornton. It is also the first of McCarthy's "Border Trilogy".
It tells of John Grady Cole, a sixteen year old cowboy, and his best friend, Lacey Rawlins, crossing the border to move South to Mexico. They encounter, among others, a young boy, Jimmy Blevins, whom they befriend, and a young aristocrat's daughter, Alejandra, whom John Grady Cole falls in love with.
