DOG DAYS
Ericka Waller’s Dog Days is a debut novel about the way dogs can bring out the best in us in the face of life’s challenges.
George is a grumpy, belligerent old man who has just lost his wife. She has left him notes around the home and a miniature dachshund puppy called Poppy. But George doesn’t want a dog, he wants to fight everyone who is trying to help him.
Dan has OCD but has channeled his energy into his career as a therapist. Afraid to acknowledge his true feelings, his most meaningful relationship so far is with his dog Fitz.
Ericka Waller’s Dog Days is a debut novel about the way dogs can bring out the best in us in the face of life’s challenges.
George is a grumpy, belligerent old man who has just lost his wife. She has left him notes around the home and a miniature dachshund puppy called Poppy. But George doesn’t want a dog, he wants to fight everyone who is trying to help him.
Dan has OCD but has channeled his energy into his career as a therapist. Afraid to acknowledge his true feelings, his most meaningful relationship so far is with his dog Fitz. That is, until Atticus walks into his life.
Lizzie is living in a women’s refuge with her son Lenny. Her body is covered in scars and she has shut herself off from the world. She distrusts dogs, but when she starts having to walk the refuge’s dog, Maud, things begin to change.
As three strangers’ lives unravel and intersect, they ultimately must accept what fate has in store for them with their dogs by their sides. Set against the backdrop of Brighton, Dog Days is an inspiring, unflinching, and deeply moving novel about life, and the way dogs can help us understand it, and each other, a little better.
- St. Martins Griffin
- Paperback
- May 2021
- 368 Pages
- 9781250274731
Buy the Book
$16.99
About Ericka Waller
Ericka Waller is an award-winning author who lives in Brighton, UK with her husband, three daughters and petting zoo. She’s been writing since she was old enough to hold a pen. Dog Days is her debut novel.
Praise
“It takes great heart and a steady hand on the tiller to bring a set of characters—human and canine–to life on the page and Ericka Waller has both. With an equally deft hand at a compelling story line, Waller draws the reader into this tender, complicated novel of love, loss and self-discovery.” –Susan Wilson, New York Times bestselling author of One Good Dog and What a Dog Knows
“Dog Days is an emotional tour-de-force that will leave you with the whole-hearted understanding that dogs really do bring people (even the most unlikely of us) together.” –Annie England Noblin, author of Sit, Stay, Speak and Pupcakes
Discussion Questions
1. George, Dan, and Lizzie were all, for various reasons, unable to stop what fate had in store for them. How much did their lack of acceptance hinder their recovery?
2. Were you surprised by Lizzie’s self-harming? She’s a complicated character, suffering from post-natal depression and being on the autism spectrum. Often women are labelled as either ‘mad’ or ‘bad’ when they commit crimes. Men do not get labelled the same way. Discuss how post-partum depression still has a shame label attached.
3. Dogs play a vital role in Dog Days, each offering a comfort George, Dan and Lizzie were missing elsewhere. To what degree do you think a dog would have helped Atticus? Wonderful as Fitz is, should Dan have confided in his cousin, Luke?
4. All three stories have a twist. Did you see any of them coming, and did they change your initial perception of the characters? Did you like Betty less having learned she’d been asked to help George?
5. Did George do enough to redeem himself? He is a difficult character to love, and Betty gets the brunt of his grief. Do you think Betty felt guilty for the relief she felt when her own husband died, and is this why she put up with George?
6. Atticus comes across as very self-assured, but inside he was perhaps battling the greatest demon of all. How much of a surprise was Atticus’ final choice, and has it changed your thoughts on suicide? Is there a point at which he could have been helped? Did Dan fail him, or did he fail Dan?
7. To what extent does Lizzie’s autism affect her post-partum depression? Of all the characters, she may be the hardest to forgive for her actions. Do the revelations of her past change your opinion of her character? As the book ends, are you pleased for her, or do you feel she doesn’t deserve the second chance offered?
8. Loneliness has been found to raise levels of stress, impede sleep and, in turn, harm the body. Loneliness can also augment depression or anxiety. To what extent is this true for George, and for Dan? How many of these issues can be addressed by having a dog?
9. Denial is a key theme in the novel. Denial is a stage of grief. To what extent is each character grieving throughout different parts of the book? Does grief reduce in size, or do we just learn to live around the outside of it?