First published 2025
Amy Webb once commanded a kitchen with passion and skill. Now she feels invisible in her own life, defined only by her roles as wife and stepmother. When Angel, a beloved street dog who escorts Tbilisi schoolchildren, vanishes from the YouTube videos Amy watches obsessively, she volunteers to travel to Georgia to find him. Her husband might be cheating again. Her stepson has left for college. Amy needs distance from a marriage that suffocates her and a life that no longer fits. In the Georgian capital, Angel proves harder to locate than expected. Amy befriends other strays, both canine and human. A defiant teenager challenges her assumptions. A enigmatic Russian man stirs feelings she thought were dead. Local grandmothers share wisdom earned through decades of upheaval. The city's complex history and vibrant food culture awaken something dormant in Amy. She begins asking questions she has avoided for years. Why did she abandon cooking? What does she want from her marriage? Can she reclaim the woman she used to be? Amy's search for one lost dog becomes a reckoning with her own lost self.
Genres: fiction, literary-fiction, contemporary, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, second-chance
Setting: Georgia, Tbilisi
304 pages · Hardcover · Algonquin Books