Best books on dogs: Author Patricia Nicol suggests novels focused on canine companions
- Author Patricia Nicol has shared a selection of books on four-legged friends
- Lily And The Octopus by American Steven Rowley comes to terms with loss
- Saving Missy by Beth Morrey involves a solitary old lady who craves company
In truth, I am more of a cat person. However, I admire the routine and enforced sociability a dog gives its owner. If I moved to the countryside, I would definitely want a canine chum to help me explore my new neighbourhood.
Two or three times a week I go for a run in Greenwich park, where I always enjoy seeing frisky, four- legged pooches taking their two-legged pals out for some exercise. Most hounds seem inherently sociable — and foist this on their owners. As I enter the park, there are always clusters of dog owners meeting to walk their pets together.
It is one of the most pernicious myths about London that it doesn’t have much community. In fact, it has thousands of close-knit groups.
Literary expert Patricia Nicol shared a selection of books focused on dogs. Lily And The Octopus by American Steven Rowley (left). Saving Missy by Beth Morrey (right)
However, the crowded city can be a lonely place for those isolated without social networks. When the reader first encounters Missy Carmichael, the protagonist of Saving Missy by Beth Morrey, she has become a solitary old lady, who craves company but doesn’t know how to admit that. Being asked to look after a female dog called Bob, and the welcome of her local community of dog walkers, changes everything; Missy flowers like a longed-for spring.
Christopher, the vulnerable 15-year-old narrator of The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-time, makes a terrifying trip to London from Swindon in Mark Haddon’s modern mystery classic.
Christopher, who describes himself as ‘a mathematician with some behavioural difficulties’ introduces the novel as his investigation into how his neighbour Mrs Shears’ dog, Wellington, came to be stabbed with a pitchfork. However, in the course of his detective work, Christopher uncovers troubling information about his own family.
Lily And The Octopus by American Steven Rowley is a quirky tale of coming to terms with imminent loss. Ted and his dachshund Lily have been together for 12 years, but now something has come between them: an octopus on Lily’s head (a metaphor for a tumour, in my reading).
If you don’t have a dog to curl up at the moment, try one of these.