The Friend: Winner of the National Book Award for Fiction and a New York Times bestseller

Nunez, Sigrid

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0349012814 ISBN 13: 9780349012810

Publisher: Virago, 2019

WINNER OF THE 2018 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD and a NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER: a moving story of love, friendship, grief, healing, and the magical bond between a woman and her dog.

'Delicious' Sunday Times 100 Best Summer Reads

'A true delight: I genuinely fear I won't read a better novel this year' Financial Times

When a woman unexpectedly loses her lifelong best friend and mentor, she finds herself burdened with the unwanted dog he has left behind. Her own battle against grief is intensified by the mute suffering of the dog, a huge Great Dane, and by the threat of eviction: dogs are prohibited in her apartment building.

Isolated from the rest of the world, increasingly obsessed with the dog's care, determined to read its mind and fathom its heart, she comes dangerously close to unravelling. But while troubles abound, rich and surprising rewards lie in store for both of them.

'Very, very clever. Mature. Entertaining. Eminently readable and re-readable. Absolutely delightful.' Irish Times

A New York Times Notable Book of 2018 * A Financial Times 2018 Best Book: Critics Pick * A Buzzfeed Best Book of 2018 * A Bustle Best Fiction Book of 2018 * An NPR Best Book of 2018

Review:

A true delight: I genuinely fear I won't read a better novel this year (Financial Times)

A beautiful book . . . crammed with a world of insight into death, grief, art, and love (Wall Street Journal)

Very very clever. Mature. Entertaining. Eminently readable and re-readable. In short, absolutely delightful. (Irish Times)

Delicious ... An intensely pleasurable read because it is so accessible, capacious and clever (Sunday Times)

A pitch-perfect novel ... Wry and moving, The Friend is a love story, a mania story and a recovery story (Vanity Fair)

A sneaky gut punch of a novel . . . a consummate example of the human-animal tale (Harper's Magazine)

The book is an intimate, beautiful thing, deceptively slight at around 200 pages, but humming with insight . . . [an] artfully discursive meditation on friendship, love, death, solitude, canine companionship and the life of an aging writer in New York .. peppered with wry observations (The Economist)

I loved it . . . It's one of my favourite books and it moved me (Whoopi Goldberg, The View)

A poignant reflection on loss and companionship (Marie Claire)

Often as funny as it is thoughtful, The Friend is an elegant meditation on grief, friendship, healing, and the bonds between humans and dogs (Buzzfeed)

Book Description:

WINNER OF THE 2018 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD and a NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER: a moving story of love, friendship, grief, healing, and the magical bond between a woman and her dog.