First published 2014
Captain Luis Carlos Montalván returns from two tours in Iraq carrying invisible wounds that prove harder to bear than any battlefield injury. His traumatic brain injury and PTSD leave him unable to climb stairs or ride a bus to the veterans hospital. He drinks too much, picks fights, and withdraws from everyone he loves. Sleep becomes impossible, and simple movements bring constant pain. Just when Luis wonders if recovery will ever come, he meets Tuesday, a golden retriever trained as a service dog. Tuesday can turn on lights, open doors, and sense approaching anxiety attacks or flashbacks before they strike. The dog has lived with prisoners and troubled children, helping many but struggling to trust humans due to his own difficult past. When Luis and Tuesday find each other, two wounded soldiers begin an unlikely partnership. This New York Times bestseller tells how a man and his dog discover that healing requires more than medical treatment. It requires the kind of unconditional love that can bridge the gap between war and peace, injury and recovery.
Genres: mental-health, military-fiction, non-fiction, biography-memoir, disability
Vibes: emotional-atmospheric, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, healing, recovery
Setting: Iraq
Period: 21st-century
297 pages · Paperback · Penguin USA
Content warnings: anxiety, depression, mental-illness