Unlikely Animals: A must-read, hilarious, heart-warming and moving family drama

In this novel, a young woman returns to her small-town home to care for her father, who is suffering from a brain disease. She is unprepared to find that her former best friend from high school is missing, and her father is the only one who believes she is still alive. The story is a tragicomic exploration of familial expectations, imperfect friendships, and the possibility of resurrection.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 368 pages
Publication date: 09 March 2023
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

A young woman returns to her small-town roots in New Hampshire under mysterious circumstances in this captivating novel from the acclaimed author of Rabbit Cake.

Bewitching!

New York Times

Heartfelt, touching, and delightfully quirky

Good Housekeeping

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 grand plans for her life, but she has lost her way. A medical school dropout, she has returned to her small-town Everton, New Hampshire, to care for her father, who is dying from a mysterious brain disease. Clive Starling has been experiencing hallucinations of small animals and visions of the ghost of a long-dead naturalist, Ernest Harold Baynes, who was known for allowing wild animals to 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 father's illness, her mother's judgment, and her younger brother's recent stint in rehab, but she is 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 father 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.

Hartnett

Weight: 260g
Dimension: 129 x 197 x 25 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781399710763