Familiaris
An Oprah's Book Club Pick
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- £10.99
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- £10.99
Publisher Description
AN OPRAH'S BOOK CLUB SELECTION
'An epic novel... David takes us on an extraordinary journey that brilliantly interweaves history, philosophy, adventure, and mysticism to explore the meaning of love, friendship and living your life's true purpose' Oprah Winfrey
'A story-telling bonfire as enthralling in its pages as it is illuminating of our fragile and complicated humanity. Familiaris is as expansive and enlightening a saga as has ever been written' Tom Hanks
'Impossibly wise, impossibly ambitious, impossibly beautiful' Richard Russo
'An American tour de force' Colum McCann
Spring 1919, and John Sawtelle's imagination has got him into trouble...again. Now John and his newlywed wife, Mary, along with their two best friends and their three dogs, are setting off for Wisconsin's north woods, where they hope to make a fresh start - and to live a life of meaning, purpose, and adventure. But the place they are headed for is far stranger and more perilous than they realize, and it will take all their ingenuity, along with a few new friends - human, animal, and otherworldly - to realise their dreams.
By turns hilarious and heartbreaking, mysterious and enchanting, Familiaris takes readers on an unforgettable journey from the halls of a small-town automobile factory, through an epic midwestern firestorm and an ambitious WWII dog training program, examining the dynamics of love and friendship, the vexing nature of families, the universal desire to create something lasting and beautiful, and of course, the species-long partnership between Homo sapiens and Canis familiaris.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Wow. This is a lot, and we mean that in the best possible way. Familiaris is a prequel to author David Wroblewski’s 2008 bestseller, The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, yet it’s bigger, wiser, and stranger. After World War I, ambitious and philosophical John Sawtelle finds a remote Wisconsin farm and decides it’s where his life’s work will take place. Over nearly half a century, John and his wife, Mary, accumulate a found family of friends, farmworkers, and townspeople, and they eventually raise and train an exceptionally intuitive, empathetic breed of dog. These storylines illuminate elements of Wroblewski’s previous novel while remaining absolutely fascinating on their own. Like a mad, wonderful blend of Charles Dickens, John Steinbeck, and Gabriel García Márquez, Familiaris feels like an instant classic and like nothing you’ve read before.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Wroblewski delivers a gratifying if overstuffed prequel to his 2008 bestseller, The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. In May 1919, 22-year-old Wisconsin automotive worker John Sawtelle witnesses his boss's murder and heads north with his wife, Mary, and their friends Ulysses Elbow and Frank Eckling out of fear he'll be falsely implicated in the crime. After the four settle on a dilapidated farm, John works as a dog breeder, raises two sons, Edgar and Claude, and encounters some unsettling surprises in the woods surrounding the property. One plot thread features a neighbor with supernatural abilities—she ages at half the normal human rate and can see into a person's future. Another involves a violent and tragic episode, which results in the Sawtelles and their friends going their separate ways. The author tends to lose his way in lengthy sections of backstory and drawn-out conversation pieces as the plot slowly approaches the events of the first novel. Still, there are beautiful passages on the bonds between humans and animals and plenty of folksy charm. Fans of the first book will be satisfied.
