GOOD BOY - MICHELLE WRIGHT

'This tender tale of a loyal friendship will pull at your heartstrings.' The Age

'A truly lovely, quite unexpected book' The Australian


It's September 1997 and Cookie, an inmate in a minimum-security prison, is serving the last four months of his sentence when he signs up for a last-chance rehabilitation program for abandoned dogs.

He's assigned Nigel-whom he renames Good Boy-an anxious soul with a talent for gnawing his way through walls. Cookie has his work cut out preparing him for the upcoming behavioural assessment that will decide his fate: pass, and Good Boy will be up for adoption and the chance of finding a loving home for the first time in his life; fail, and he will be put down. When Cookie realises that Good Boy is almost certain to flunk the test, he must decide how far he'll go in his bid to save him.

As the friendship between them deepens, Cookie is forced to confront the past that shaped him, revealing truths he would rather have left behind.

Good Boy movingly explores the bonds between dogs and their humans, and how hope might move us beyond punishment and towards redemption.