"This tragicomic novel is heartfelt, touching, and delightfully
quirky. You'll fall in love with the offbeat cast of characters (both
living and dead) and find yourself rooting for them right through the
last page."--Good 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.
ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Washington Post, Book Riot -
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.
*
Natural-born healer Emma Starling once had big plans for her life, but
she's lost her way. A medical school dropout, she's 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 dad's illness, her mom's
judgment, and her younger brother's recent stint in rehab, but she's
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
don't spend much time looking for drug addicts. Emma's 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 isn't
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.
