โThis tragicomic novel is heartfelt, touching, and delightfully quirky. Youโll fall in love with the offbeat cast of characters (both living and dead) and find yourself rooting for them right through the last page.โโGood Housekeeping (Book Club pick)
A lost young woman returns to small-town New Hampshire under the strangest of circumstances in this one-of-a-kind novel of life, death, and whatever comes after from the acclaimed author of Rabbit Cake.
ONEย OFย THEย BESTย BOOKSย OFย THEย YEAR: The Washington Post, Book Riot โข Longlisted for the Joyce Carol Oates Prize
It was a source of entertainment at Maple Street Cemetery. Both funny and sad, the kind of story we like best.ย
Natural-born healer Emma Starling once had big plans for her life, but sheโs lost her way. A medical school dropout, sheโs come back to small-town Everton, New Hampshire, to care for her father, who is dying from a mysterious brain disease. Clive Starling has been hallucinating small animals, as well as having visions of the ghost of a long-dead naturalist, Ernest Harold Baynes, once known for letting wild animals live in his house. This ghost has been giving Clive some ideas on how to spend his final days.
Emma arrives home knowing she must face her dadโs illness, her momโs judgment, and her younger brotherโs recent stint in rehab, but sheโs unprepared to find that her former best friend from high school is missing, with no one bothering to look for her. The police say they donโt spend much time looking for drug addicts. Emmaโs dad is the only one convinced the young woman might still be alive, and Emma is hopeful he could be right. Someone should look for her, at least. Emma isnโt really trying to be a hero, but somehow she and her father bring about just the kind of miracle the town needs.
Set against the backdrop of a small town in the throes of a very real opioid crisis, Unlikely Animals is a tragicomic novel about familial expectations, imperfect friendships, and the possibility of resurrecting that which had been thought irrevocably lost.