“And in northern Wisconsin, in the middle of the middle of nowhere, John Sawtelle and his new pup walked down a dirt road toward a farm that would turn out to be unoccupied and for sale. He would not recognize the significance of the moment for a long time. It did not feel like the beginning of anything. “
Those are some lines from the Prologue to the novel Familiaris by David Wroblewski. This 975-page saga begins in the Spring of 1919 when John is a test driver for the Kissel Automotive Company in Hartford, Wisconsin.
Shortly after marrying his wife Mary, he loses his job, and they decide to buy that farm and move there with their dogs and John’s two best friends: Frank who is struggling after losing an arm and a leg in the war and Elbow, a giant of a man who crafts amazing furniture.
Two of the first people they encounter are Walter and his adopted daughter Ida who run a convenience store. Walter rescued Ida as an infant from a huge firestorm and raised her on his own. Ida has some magical ESP powers that come in handy throughout the story.
John and Mary have two sons, one a rebel who gets involved in treating dogs that are injured in illegal dog fights. John and Mary make a living by breeding dogs. They are very intentional in training them and tracking their lives.
As the book jacket says, this book “examines the dynamics of love and friendship, the vexing nature of families, the universal desire to create something lasting and beautiful, and of course, the species-long partnership between Homo sapiens and Canis Familiaris.”
If you’re looking for well written story you can lose yourself in, then you must read Familiaris by David Wroblewski.
