Author:Jacqueline Sheehan

Roxanne Pellegrino's world collapses when her husband dies unexpectedly. The only way she feels she can deal with her all-consuming grief is to run away from her life. She leaves her home, her career and her friends, heading for Peaks Island, a tiny speck off the coast of Maine. A former psychologist, she finds herself taking a job as an animal warden and reinventing her past so it doesn't include the tragedy of her husband's death.
But despite Roxanne's best efforts to cut herself off from her emotions and people in general, she finds herself drawn to her quirky new neighbours. And then Roxanne meets Lloyd.
Lloyd is a stray dog, a large black Labrador retriever who clearly has been woefully mistreated. And so begins a remarkable friendship between a wounded woman and a wounded dog. And as both slowly begin to heal, Roxanne begins to deal with her grief and discover that happiness can be found in unexpected places...
The best book I've read in a long time. I enjoyed every word
—— Susan Elizabeth Phillipsa contemporary tale of grief...Dog lovers will adore Sheehan's portrayal...
—— Publishers WeeklyShe is a writer of great subtlety and understanding, and this is her best novel since Moon Tiger, which won the Booker Prize in 1987
—— The ScotsmanEvokes an escalating atmosphere of menace . . . Lively at her deceptively easy-to-read best
—— Daily MailExtremely funny
—— ObserverExhibits extraordinary originality
—— John Bayley , IndependentSaramago can transform banal sentiments into unexpected profundities
—— David McAllister , TLSEarle seems to have little trouble expanding his range from a three-minute song to a 300-page narrative... And though the novel comes no closer to establishing the facts of Hank Williams's death, it certainly reveals a good deal of truth behind it
—— Alfred Hickling , GuardianA witty, heartfelt story of hope, forgiveness and redemption
—— Booklist






