The Dogs of Littlefield

Had Barbara Pym written about suburban New England in the 21st century, she might have focused on Littlefield, Massachusetts, recently named one the Ten Best Places to Live in America. Full of psychologists and college professors, Littlefield is proud of its fine schools, its girls' soccer teams, its leafy streets and quaint village centre where George Washington once spent the night in what is now a yoga studio. In fact, a sociologist from the University of Chicago, Dr. Clarice Watkins, has moved to Littlefield for a year to study the elements of 'good quality of life'. Yet, no sooner has she arrived than someone begins poisoning the town dogs. Are the poisonings in protest to an off-leash proposal for Baldwin Park - the subject of much town debate - or the sign of a deeper disorder? Why, for instance, is Clarice's lovely neighbour Margaret Downing so unhappy and her nice husband so frightened? Why do children keep pulling fire alarms at the middle school? And who is spray-painting ominous graffiti all over town - could it be the young bearded Pakistani who bakes doughnuts every morning at the Forge Café? A darkly comic novel that examines the relationships between men and women as well as the attempts of a community to remain a 'village' amid global disturbance, The Dogs of Littlefield is a wry reminder that the world's large concerns are built of small ones, and that yearning for something 'more' is the one characteristic shared by us all.