Unlikely Animals by Annie Hartnett on February 28, 2023
Genres: Fiction / Family Life / General, Fiction / Humorous / General, Fiction / Literary
Pages: 384
Format: eBook
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A lost young woman returns to small-town New Hampshire under the strangest of circumstances in this one-of-a-kind novel of life, death, and whatever comes after from the acclaimed author of Rabbit Cake.
This is a light-hearted read that handles complex, heavy topics in a humorous way. This one covers family relationships, dementia, drug addiction, depression, death, and with a touch of magical realism. The characters in this one are quirky. The plot is humorous and borders on absurd, but it all works so well.
Emma went away to med school, but returned home without telling her parents she dropped out. When she was younger she was known to have a “healing touch” by the community. But after her dad developed a degenerative brain disease, she came home to help her mom with him. Everyone expects her healing touch to be the help, but it has vanished.
Emma’s former friend from high school went missing and her father has been putting up missing posters. But he also see’s animals that aren’t there. The narrators from the cemetery, that are trying to help steer Clive in the right direction but aren’t aloud to interfere, are able to see the thoughts and actions of the townspeople. The only one close enough to help Clive is Ernest Harold Baynes, a long dead naturalist. His ghost befriends Clive and guides him to do some strange things.
Emma’s brother is recently home from rehab due to a drug addiction, so she is busy keeping an eye on him as well. He is in charge of a play at the school where she lands a substitute teaching job. Emma frets over her father’s condition, her friend’s disappearance, and her brother’s sobriety. Can she help everyone in time? Is her healing touch really gone forever?
The animals in this story are really intriguing and the nature preserve was a great backdrop. Annie Hartnett does an amazing job balancing the heavy with the light, while covering serious topics with humor. Hartnett can definitely bring the humor while grounding the story in reality.