by Nick Trout
First published 2013
Dr. Cyrus Mills returns to rural Vermont after fifteen years to claim his inheritance: the Bedside Manor for Sick Animals, his recently deceased father's struggling veterinary practice. Mills works as a veterinary pathologist, preferring laboratory specimens to live animals and their demanding owners. He plans to sell the clinic quickly and leave town. Then Frieda Fuzzypaws, a golden retriever down on her luck, becomes his first patient and changes everything. Mills finds himself treating a black Labrador with a talent for eating underwear and a Persian cat intent on revealing her owner's boyfriend as a fortune hunter. The local diner's spirited waitress catches his attention. As Mills becomes involved with the town's residents and their pets, he questions his memories of the past. He discovers that his patients are not the only ones who need healing.
Genres: fiction, romance, literary-fiction, contemporary
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, found-family
Setting: Vermont
Period: 15 Years
340 pages · Paperback · Grand Central Publishing