The Friend

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

When a woman unexpectedly loses a lifelong friend and mentor to suicide, 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 that had been devoted to its suddenly vanished master, and by the threat of eviction: dogs are prohibited in her apartment building. The Friend is both a meditation on friendship, loss and bereavement, and a celebration of the wonder and healing power of the human-canine bond.

'A pitch-perfect novel . . . Wry and moving, The Friend is a love story, amania story, and a recovery story' Vanity Fair

'An intimate, beautiful thing, humming with insight' The Economist

'Dry, allusive,charming . . . Nunez has an interesting mind, and she shakes the dust fromevery topic - grief, writing, academia, sexual politics - she picks up' New York Times Critics' Top Books of2018

'A sneaky gutpunch of a novel . . . a consummate example of the human-animal tale' Harper'sMagazine

Softcover