A Dog's Life

by Paul Bailey (Author & Narrator)

In the spring of 1985, novelist Paul Bailey found himself becoming the unlikely owner of a dog. He saw the puppy in the window of a pet shop and was instantly (and lastingly) beguiled. She was given the name Circe by Bailey's dying partner, David, who was also overcome by her charms, though after a good deal of resistance. This memoir tells of the 16 years Paul Bailey spent in Circe's company, while also offering portraits of friends and acquaintances, living and dead. There are sketches of the various eccentrics encountered during his walks with the dog, and descriptions of the author's trips abroad - to Romania, Poland and Hungary, among other countries. Immaculate Mistake, which Penguin published in 1991. Like that book, it is composed in a series of scenes, written as they came into the author's mind. Yet together they constitute a sustained narrative, at once funny and touching. At the heart of A Dog's Life, appropriately, is the captivating animal herself.

Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Peter Harry "Paul" Bailey was a British novelist and critic, as well as a biographer of Cynthia Payne and Quentin Crisp.

Reviews

[Nergis]

It was a lovely read; the book brought me to tears and made me giggle from one page to another. Paul Bailey's story writing is so elegant and subtle in telling the bad and good in humans, with a sense of humour, and going through grief after a loved one, with grace. This book will stay in mind as a perspective changer and a reminder of the art of living.

[Dani]

DNF I'm afriad. I just couldn't manage the writing style meaning I wasn't able to buy into it.

[Tiwi]

My heart was touched by story. An animal can give us a lesson how to become a sincere people.

[Massimo Tallarigo]

Nice and full of life!