Ask Bob: A Novel
Popular animal-advice columnist Dr. Bob knows and likes pets a lot better than he does people most of the time. And why not? His brother, Ted, is a manipulative sociopath always looking for a way to settle a score or cop some cash, while the only kind of handout his cats, dogs, and birds are looking for is a gentle pat on the head. Bob’s faith in humanity is restored when he marries his soul mate, Anna, but their idyllic time together is cut short when Anna succumbs to cancer. It takes Bob a few years and a few relationships, but he eventually learns to love again when he meets Camilla, a Doctors Without Borders physician who prefers to take her risks on the battlefield rather than in the bedroom. With poignant insight into the precarious nature of human emotions, Gethers, author of nonfiction books about a beloved cat, including The Cat Who’ll Live Forever (2001), dramatizes what it means to be vulnerable and how the pursuit of love and desire for renewal can soothe even the most tortured soul. --Carol Haggas