Publishers Weekly
01/10/2022
In this tender tribute, novelist and essayist Humphreys (The Evening Chorus) explores the parallels between “the creative journey” and communing with one’s canine. After her beloved vizsla Charlotte’s death, Humphreys adopted another vizsla, Fig, named for her dark red fur, “the colour of a ripe Calimyrna fig.” Despite a rocky start (mainly due to the pup’s penchant for nipping), the two quickly settled into a loving relationship, one that came to nourish Humphreys’s craft. Intriguingly, she describes the process of writing as akin to that of caring for a puppy—from finding structure in daily strolls, to discovering the perfect setting (“I pay attention to the landscape in a very immediate way, as my dog does”), pacing, and ending. As she mixes her sparkling ruminations with stories of other famous writers who felt a similar kinship to their pooches—among them, Anton Chekov, Alice Walker, and Virginia Woolf (who believed “that dogs represented ‘the private side of life—the play side’ ”)—she gives equal veneration to the power of walking. “The dog walk is not to be underestimated as a source for creativity and life-giving energy,” she opines. “What crosses your path will always... lead you to discover new things.” Dog lovers will find this a treat. Agent: Clare Alexander, Aitken Alexander Assoc. (Mar.)
From the Publisher
A loveable whirlwind with very sharp teeth, Fig shatters Humphrey’s tranquility but prompts this wise meditation on why dogs make ideal companions for writers.”
—People
“A closely observed portrait of dogs and a meditation on the ways they can enrich humans’ lives.”
—Sarah Watling, Air Mail
“A warm, writerly homage to the consolation of dogs.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“[A] tender tribute . . . Dog lovers will find this a treat.”
—Publishers Weekly
“It’s not often that a book inspires as much as it entertains, but somehow I felt like a better person after reading And a Dog Called Fig. It’s a meditation on solitude, writing, and our connection with dogs. It’s a rich, sumptuous, and brilliant book, and we are all lucky to have it.”
—Patricia B. McConnell, author of The Education of Will
“Helen Humphreys is original and observant about being with dogs, and being with oneself. Her textured, bighearted book is a great pleasure.”
—Meg Wolitzer, author of The Female Persuasion
“I read this book with a knowing smile; Helen Humphreys explores the troubles and rewards of animal companionship with great tenderness and insight.”
—Sara Baume, author of Spill Simmer Falter Wither
“Dogs are known to be a source of great comfort, and reading about dogs proves the same. In these tumultuous times, this might be just the book you’ve been looking for: part memoir, part meditation, thoughtful, lyrical, and completely wonderful. Long live Fig!”
—Karen Joy Fowler, author of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
Library Journal
10/01/2021
With In Love, NBA/NBCC finalist Bloom (White Houses) takes us on a painful journey as her husband retires from his job, withdraws from life, and finally receives a diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer's; she recalls both the love they experienced and the love it took to stand by him as he ended his life on his own terms. In The Beauty of Dusk, New York Times columnist Bruni contemplates aging, illness, and the end of the road as he describes a rare stroke that deprived him of sight in his right eye, even as he learns that he could lose sight in his left eye as well. In Aurelia, Aurélia, Lannan Literary Award-winning novelist Davis (The Silk Road) considers how living and imagining interact in a book grounded in the joys and troubles of her marriage and her husband's recent death. Raised in an ultra-orthodox Jewish household and married off at age 19 to a man she barely knew, Haart made a Brazen decision more than two decades later, surreptitiously earning enough money to break away, then entering the fashion world, and finally becoming CEO and co-owner of the modeling agency Elite World Group. Adding to all those paw-poundingly wonderful canine celebrations that keep coming our way, And a Dog Called Fig is Dublin IMPAC long-listed Canadian novelist Humphreys's paean to dogs as the ideal companion to the writing life. In The Tears of a Man Flow Inward, Burundi-born, U.S.-based Pushcart/Whiting honoree Irankunda recalls how his family and fellow villagers survived the 13-year civil war in his country—with the help, crucially, of his kind and brave mother, a Mushingantahe, or chosen village leader—and how the war destroyed Burundi's culture and traditions. As private investigator Krouse explains in Tell Me Everything, she accepted a case of alleged sexual assault at a party for college football players and recruits despite reservations owing to her own experiences with sexual violence, then saw the case become a landmark civil rights case. In Red Paint, LaPointe, a Salish poet and nonfiction author from the Nooksack and Upper Skagit Indian tribes, explains how she has sought to reclaim a place in the world for herself and her people by blending her passion for the punk rock of the Pacific Northwest and her desire to honor spiritual traditions and particularly a namesake great-grandmother who fought to preserve the Lushootseed language. Undoubtedly, book critic Newton has Ancestor Trouble: a forebear accused of witchcraft in Puritan Massachusetts, a grandfather married 13 times, a father who praised slavery and obsessed over the purity of his bloodlines, and a frantic, cat-rescuing mother who performed exorcisms, all of which made her wonder how she would turn out. In How Do I Un-Remember This? comedian/screenwriter Pellegrino draws on his big-hit podcast Everything Iconic with Danny Pellegrino (over 13.5 million downloads in 2020) as he renegotiates 1990s pop culture and moments funny, embarrassing, or painful to limn growing up closeted in a conservative Ohio community. In Black Ops, Prado portrays a life that ranges from his family's fleeing the Cuban revolution when he was seven to his retirement from the CIA as the equivalent of a two-star general while also detailing the agency's involvement over the decades in numerous "shadow wars" (200,000-copy first printing). Segall came of age as a reporter just as tech entrepreneurs began to soar, and as she interviewed these Special Characters, she also rose to become an award-winning investigative reporter and (until 2019) CNN's senior tech correspondent (75,000-copy first printing).
Kirkus Reviews
2021-12-22
A dog-loving novelist, poet, and memoirist adopts an exuberant puppy.
One winter, British-born Canadian writer Humphreys kept a journal recounting her life with Fig, her third vizsla in the last 22 years. Traditionally the hunting and companion dogs of Hungarian aristocrats, the smooth-haired vizslas, writes the author, “are the only dogs without an odour. They are athletic and extremely bonded to their humans. Vizslas are intelligent and adapt well to new situations and places. Also, they are exceedingly good-looking and have been called the super models of the dog world.” Her first was Hazel, and her most beloved was Charlotte, a calm, intuitive, companionable dog, who had just died from cancer. Besides chronicling the “wild, unknowable demon” that was Fig, Humphreys offers a tender elegy to Charlotte, with whom she had “the most intimate relationship with a dog” that she ever had. The author also shares fond memories of the dogs with whom she grew up. “My dogs have all had strong characters,” she writes, “and I have learned from them that to have traits that are admirable is as good as having traits that are likeable.” Many other writers, Humphreys discovered, have found dogs perfect companions: Virginia Woolf, whose “mongrel terrier” Grizzle accompanied her on daily walks over the South Downs; Thomas Hardy, whose aggressive fox terrier, Wessex, often ripped the trouser legs of guests; James Thurber, who included some of his 14 dogs in his drawings and stories; Gertrude Stein, who doted on her poodle, Basket; and Alexander Pope, who had a Great Dane named Bounce. Dogs, who “live very firmly in their bodies,” have liberated Humphreys by allowing her to cross from the life of the mind to the physicality of the body, a process that, “while jarring at first, actually opened up the writing process for me.” The book includes photos of writers and their canine companions.
A warm, writerly homage to the consolation of dogs.
