Touching tale of a man and his best friend

FOLLOWING ATTICUS

By Tom Ryan

(Michael Joseph)

Paperback original £6.99

BE warned: if there’s a dog-shaped hole in your life that you’re even so much as toying with filling, this story is likely to be the deal clincher.

Tom Ryan describes himself as a middle-aged, overweight, no-nonsense newspaper editor when setting the scene for the story that follows.

By his own account, he led an unusual life as the sole employee and publisher of the newspaper he established in the city of Newburyport on the North Shore of Massachussets. Ryan was the scourge of the ruling elite, shining lights in murky corners and publishing his findings without fear or favour once a fortnight.

By night he’d be covering meetings at city hall and by day trawling the streets meeting contacts, talking to people and digging the dirt on what made the city of around 17,000 souls tick. His fascination with getting under the skin of the city’s political scene made him friends and enemies in equal numbers. Pulling no punches, his was the paper politicians didn’t want to appear in (but did enjoy reading).

After a little light trumpet blowing regarding his self-appointed role as editor of the Undertoad (the name taken from a John Irving novel to signify the fact that there’s always something stirring under even the smoothest of surfaces), Ryan comes clean. “I was poor but influential, happy but stressed , fulfilled in my work but not in my life. I was making a difference but at the same time I felt there was something missing.”

That something turns out, against the odds, to be a tiny, 20lb miniature schnauzer. Atticus M. Finch (again named by Ryan after a literary figure from the classic novel, To Kill a Mockingbird) has the tough job of following in the paw prints of Ryan’s beloved old dog, Max. Atticus is recommended to Ryan by a sage dog breeder from the opposite side of the country who seems to have a way of matching her tiny charges with just the right owners.

They make an odd couple from the word go, particularly as Ryan insists on following the breeder’s advice and carrying the pet pooch with him pretty much everywhere he goes. The hulking great newspaperman and the little dog become the best of friends. Ryan explains that he isn’t looking for a pet so much as a companion. In short, he wants Atticus to be his own dog.

When Ryan decides to honour the memory of a dear friend by raising money for a cancer charity, he strikes on an idea that will change his life. He’ll take Atticus on a gruelling round of the forty-eight 4,000-ft plus peaks in New Hampshire’s White Mountains range twice – in winter. For a guy used to getting out of breath putting the trash out, it’s quite the undertaking.

Partly driven by childhood memories of the few times his hard-pressed father ever seemed to be happy – out hiking in the great outdoors – Ryan follows his instinct and rejects advice from seasoned walkers that the mountains are no place for a dog like Atticus in the winter.

His account of that effort is cleverly interwoven with back story about his often difficult relationship with his father and literary musings inspired by some of his favourite authors down the years. Ryan is a man on a mission – and it becomes much more than simply a box ticking exercise in pursuit of a fundraising goal.

As for Atticus, the little dog that doesn’t belong in the hills takes on the role of leader, scampering up paths and over rocks ahead of his friend – hence the book’s title. Ryan experiences moments of epiphany out in the hills, facing down some long-held fears in the process and gradually coming to an understanding of what is truly important in his life.

It’s a buddy tale with a twist though as a setback for Atticus threatens to alter this newfound sense of liberation. With his little companion going blind, Ryan finds himself facing the biggest challenge of his life.

It’s a cracking read, well paced to maintain the tension. Ryan offers insights into the psyche of man and beast – and a compelling case for why they’re likely to be one another’s best friends for some time to come…

You can find a video trailer of the book here.

Hector Mackenzie

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