And a Dog Called Fig: Solitude, Connection, the Writing Life

And a Dog Called Fig is the story of one writer's life with dogs (including a frisky new puppy), how they are uniquely ideal companions for building a creative life, and some delightful tales about dogs and their famous writers

Into my writer's isolation will come a dog, to sit beside my chair or to lie on the couch while I work, to force me outside for a walk, and suddenly, although still lonely, this writer will have a companion.

An artist's solitude is a sacred space, one to be guarded from the chaos of the world, where the sparks of inspiration can be kindled into fires of creation. But within this quiet also lie loneliness, self-doubt, the danger of collapsing too far inward.

An artist needs a familiar, a companion with emotional intelligence, innate curiosity, an enthusiasm for the world beyond, but also the capacity to rest contentedly for many hours. What an artist needs, Helen Humphreys would say, is a dog.

And a Dog Called Fig is a memoir of the writing life told through the dogs Humphreys has lived with and loved over a lifetime, including Fig, her new Vizsla puppy. Interspersed are stories of other writers and their own irreplaceable companions: Virginia Woolf and Grizzle, Gertrude Stein and Basket, Thomas Hardy and Wessex--who walked the dining table at dinner parties, taking whatever he liked--and many more.

A love song to the dogs who come into our lives and all that they bring--sorrow, mayhem, reflection, joy--this is a book about steadfast friendship and loss, creativity and craft, and the restorative powers of nature. Every work of art is different; so too is every dog, with distinctive needs and lessons. And if we let them guide us, they will show us many worlds we would otherwise miss.

Includes Black-and-White Photographs

Author: Helen Humphreys
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Published: 03/08/2022
Pages: 272
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.70lbs
Size: 7.60h x 5.40w x 1.20d
ISBN: 9780374603885


Review Citation(s):
Library Journal Prepub Alert 10/01/2021 pg. 21
Publishers Weekly 01/10/2022
Kirkus Reviews 01/15/2022

About the Author
Helen Humphreys is an acclaimed award-winning author of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Her work includes the novels The Evening Chorus, Coventry, and Afterimage, and the nonfiction works The Ghost Orchard and The Frozen Thames. She has won the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize and the Toronto Book Award, and has been a finalist for the Governor General's Award for Fiction, the Trillium Book Award, the Lambda Literary Award, and CBC Radio's Canada Reads.