Man's best friend makes his appearance in a suprising number of novels. Grayfriars Bobby, the children's classic, was one of the first books to feature a dog as the key character but Melvin Burgess brings the idea up to date and takes his own unique look at a dog's life in Lady: My Life as a Bitch. Paul Bailey's memoir is structured around the life of his dog, Circe. Other Classics in the genre include Three Men in a Boat, to Say Nothing of the Dog by Jerome K Jerome, Anton Chekhov's The Lady With the Little Dog and The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle. So there are lots of shaggy dog stories to choose from but remember, a dog is for life, not just for Christmas!
Author interviews
