From Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble Discover Great New WritersWhat is the essence of a dog? What is the meaning of a life? Edgar Sawtelle seeks to answer these questions in Wroblewski's startlingly compelling, original, and yes, classic epic -- a truly American novel guaranteed to win countless hearts.
Edgar lives a hard yet satisfying life breeding and training dogs with his parents on their northern Wisconsin farm. They're continuing the work of Edgar's grandfather, who created a new breed of dog -- bred not for work or appearance but to embody the ineffable qualities of companionship and wisdom. Edgar has a mysterious bond with the Sawtelle dogs. Like them, he can hear and see and comprehend, but he cannot speak. He talks to the dogs in signs, and they respond to him.
Edgar's idyll on the farm is interrupted with the appearance of his uncle, who resents Edgar's father, and wants to usurp him. Evoking Hamlet, the biblical story of Cain and Abel, and Homer's Odyssey to tell the story of Edgar's harrowing journey from the safety of his home through the Chequamegon Forest and back again with his extraordinary canine companions, Wroblewski depicts a world -- not so different from our own -- where dogs teach their human counterparts far more than humans teach them, and together, they find meaning. (Fall 2008 Selection)