The Friend

A moving story of love, friendship, grief, healing, and the magical bond between a woman and her dog. When a woman unexp... (more)

A moving story of love, friendship, grief, healing, and the magical bond between a woman and her dog. When a woman unexpectedly loses her lifelong best friend and mentor, 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 traumatized by the inexplicable disappearance of its master, and by the threat of eviction: dogs are prohibited in her apartment building. While others worry that grief has made her a victim of magical thinking, the woman refuses to be separated from the dog except for brief periods of time. Isolated from the rest of the world, increasingly obsessed with the dog's care, determined to read its mind and fathom its heart, she comes dangerously close to unraveling. But while troubles abound, rich and surprising rewards lie in store for both of them. Elegiac and searching, The Friend is both a meditation on loss and a celebration of human-canine devotion. (less)

A moving story of love, friendship, grief, healing, and the magical bond between a woman and her dog. When a woman unexp... (more)

A moving story of love, friendship, grief, healing, and the magical bond between a woman and her dog. When a woman unexpectedly loses her lifelong best friend and mentor, 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 traumatized by the inexplicable disappearance of its master, and by the threat of eviction: dogs are prohibited in her apartment building. While others worry that grief has made her a victim of magical thinking, the woman refuses to be separated from the dog except for brief periods of time. Isolated from the rest of the world, increasingly obsessed with the dog's care, determined to read its mind and fathom its heart, she comes dangerously close to unraveling. But while troubles abound, rich and surprising rewards lie in store for both of them. Elegiac and searching, The Friend is both a meditation on loss and a celebration of human-canine devotion. (less)

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A moving story of love, friendship, grief, healing, and the magical bond between a woman and her dog. When a woman unexp... (more)

A moving story of love, friendship, grief, healing, and the magical bond between a woman and her dog. When a woman unexpectedly loses her lifelong best friend and mentor, 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 traumatized by the inexplicable disappearance of its master, and by the threat of eviction: dogs are prohibited in her apartment building. While others worry that grief has made her a victim of magical thinking, the woman refuses to be separated from the dog except for brief periods of time. Isolated from the rest of the world, increasingly obsessed with the dog's care, determined to read its mind and fathom its heart, she comes dangerously close to unraveling. But while troubles abound, rich and surprising rewards lie in store for both of them. Elegiac and searching, The Friend is both a meditation on loss and a celebration of human-canine devotion. (less)

Jacob Seger arrives in Lebanon ready to embrace his future. He's landed his first job in the world of international dipl... (more)

Jacob Seger arrives in Lebanon ready to embrace his future. He's landed his first job in the world of international diplomacy, and he's determined to make a difference. But when Jacob meets the handsome and mysterious Yassim at a glamorous party, he quickly becomes swept up into a passionate, obsessive affair that renders everything else in his life insignificant. Yassim is unpredictable and elusive. He claims it's his work as a war photographer that takes him across the border into Syria, but when a Swedish intelligence office confronts Jacob with the claim that Yassim is wanted on terrorism charges, Jacob's life is turned upside down. He doesn't know who to believe or who he can trust. He only knows that he needs to flee Beirut and fast. (less)