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You want a friend, get a dog – Gordon Gekko
‘Jeez, look at you, my friend blurted. ‘You hardly smile. You used to be hilarious but you haven’t laughed in weeks.’She listed the things she thought might help: a bottle of wine, six months at the beach, a year overseas.
I was having none of it.
Finally, she said: ‘Jill, you need something to love.’
She was right. I needed someone who cuddled me at night and was still excited to see me in the morning. I just hadn’t met him yet.
Newspaper editor Jill Baker arrived home to find her husband dead on the bedroom floor. Within weeks, still in shock, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and told her chances of surviving. Surgery, chemotherapy and radiation treatment followed in a year from hell.
At her lowest ebb, Jill took a chance. She needed something or somebody to make life worth living again. But could it really be a crazy, howling, snoring, digging, chewing, barking orange pup?
Turns out Harry and Jill were made to be together. They are an unlikely duo. Jill is quiet, Harry is loud as hell. Jill meticulously plans the day while Harry says let’s wing it. She sips pinot while he’s an espresso martini guy. Theirs is a beautiful friendship, an unbreakable bond.
A DOG CALLED HARRY is the moving story of a dog dubbed Dirty Harry who helped Jill love life again.
‘Jeez, look at you, my friend blurted. ‘You hardly smile. You used to be hilarious but you haven’t laughed in weeks.’She listed the things she thought might help: a bottle of wine, six months at the beach, a year overseas.
I was having none of it.
Finally, she said: ‘Jill, you need something to love.’
She was right. I needed someone who cuddled me at night and was still excited to see me in the morning. I just hadn’t met him yet.
Newspaper editor Jill Baker arrived home to find her husband dead on the bedroom floor. Within weeks, still in shock, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and told her chances of surviving. Surgery, chemotherapy and radiation treatment followed in a year from hell.
At her lowest ebb, Jill took a chance. She needed something or somebody to make life worth living again. But could it really be a crazy, howling, snoring, digging, chewing, barking orange pup?
Turns out Harry and Jill were made to be together. They are an unlikely duo. Jill is quiet, Harry is loud as hell. Jill meticulously plans the day while Harry says let’s wing it. She sips pinot while he’s an espresso martini guy. Theirs is a beautiful friendship, an unbreakable bond.
A DOG CALLED HARRY is the moving story of a dog dubbed Dirty Harry who helped Jill love life again.
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Reviews
This memoir about how a tiny dog healed a very broken heart is a moving and truthful account of love and loss.
With humour, wit and no trace of indulgence, Baker captures the shock and sorrow of recovery, all aided by the most unlikely of heroes.
This is a heart-lifting memoir about the power of love and pups and just what is we need to put a smile on our faces during this time of uncertainty and social distancing
A Dog Called Harry is the moving memoir of how this "crazy, howling, snoring, digging, chewing, barking, orange pup" helped her love life again.
Jill Baker came home one day to find her husband, George, dead on the bedroom floor. Then just weeks later she was diagnosed with breast cancer. At her lowest, she decided to get a cavoodle, whom she named Dirty Harry. Jill writes that: "Harry tried to be the perfect dog, and every year or two he was, but some days I wondered how this dog had a hope in hell of saving my life when he couldn't get his own in order." This is an uplifting read about a bond between a woman and her dog. And it's a reminder of the human spirit's ability to survive in the most trying of times
Review