A Year of Cats and Dogs  E-mail this product to a friend

"Hawkins spins an offbeat and delightful tale of a midlife anti-crisis. Maryanne is the 49-year-old owner of Clement, an orange cat, and Bob, a seven-year-old Rottweiler. Ex-boyfriend Phillip has just moved out, ending their 10-year relationship, which leaves Maryanne feeling blah, so she resolves to 'go AWOL from the productive world.' Then she realizes she has a gift for speaking with animals, which segues into a part-time gig at an animal shelter. As Maryanne recasts her life, Hawkins inserts quirky recipes (Quitting Your Job and Vowing to Be Frugal Stew, Chicken Soup for the Sad) into the unhurried and lighthearted narrative. A pleasant departure from the standard midlife crisis story." —Publishers Weekly

"Hawkins, a Chicago critic and writer, has a fashioned a first novel that deftly traces the eruption and easing of emotional incoherence, while addressing serious questions of life and death with jaunty and edgy humor not unlike that of best-selling Jennifer Weiner." —Booklist

"Hawkins seamlessly weaves together many eclectic elements: soup recipes, I Ching meditations, bits of maudlin poetry, a pet's simple request for toast, the heartache of death. You don't have to be an animal lover to enjoy this funny and moving debut novel." —Joy Humphrey, Library Journal

"When I call Margaret Hawkins's debut novel original and ambitious, it is the highest praise I can give, because not only has Hawkins produced one of the most enjoyable and thought-provoking novels I've read, she's done so using a premise that is utterly fresh and interesting. This is an engaging yet reflective story of a likable woman searching for meaning in her cluttered life, and I highly recommend it." —Allison Campbell, On My Bookshelf