Ever By My Side
A Memoir in Eight [Acts] Pets
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- £3.49
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- £3.49
Publisher Description
“The lessons that these animals taught me have been subtle, startling, and inspirational, playing a small but vital part in helping to shape the person you see with the stethoscope around his neck.” —Dr. Nick Trout
New York Times bestselling author Nick Trout has captivated readers by taking them behind the scenes into the heartwarming—and sometimes heartrending—world of veterinary medicine. In Ever By My Side, Nick turns the lens inward to offer a funny, moving, and intimate memoir about how the pets he has had throughout his life have shaped him into the son, husband, father, and doctor he is today. Using his relationships with those beloved animals to tell his life story, Nick shares the profound lessons he’s learned about friendship, loyalty, and resilience. The result is a moving story that speaks not just to animal lovers, but to any reader who appreciates the bonds we have with our loved ones, be they animal or human, and the lengths to which we go to nurture those bonds.
Nick waxes nostalgic about his boyhood in a working-class British suburb, where a large German shepherd named Patch was the perfect companion to a scrawny, bookish boy in a neighborhood full of bullies. He writes about his relationship with his father, the man who nurtured Nick’s dream of becoming a vet, even though he couldn’t have imagined the career would lead his only son 3,000 miles away. He describes wooing his future wife and stepdaughter and (perhaps most difficult of all) their ornery cat. And he offers a poignant chronicle of his daughter’s devastating diagnosis of cystic fibrosis and how a little yellow Labrador retriever played an important role in bringing joy to their family when they needed it most. Alongside Nick’s warm reflections, the pets in these pages come alive as irresistible characters in their own right and showcase the power of animals to offer a lifetime of consolation, guidance, and abiding affection.
Tender, wry, and ruminative, Ever By My Side is a tribute to the power and beauty of ordinary life and a celebration of how pets make it all the sweeter and richer.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Veterinarian Trout (Tell Me Where It Hurts) has a deep love of animals. From the time of his early childhood in England, dogs were always part of the family with all the inherent ups and downs. As an adult, Trout decides to move his practice to America, where he falls in love, gets married, and has his first cat (gasp!), the rough and tumble Reggie. Add to this a child, and more dogs, which teaches Trout, though his dealings with pets both at home and in the office, valuable lessons about life, loyalty, and love. With his second book Trout shows a practiced hand at narrative. These tales function well as heartwarming stand-alone stories, yet coalesce into a satisfying, complete memoir. Pet owners will be instantly captivated, empathizing and amused by Trout's stories of dog antics, feline aloofness, and the indescribable joy of sharing one's life with the animals.
