The best books for people who love dogs

The last book in Lucy Maud Montgomery’s beloved Anne of Green Gables series, this volume focuses on Anne’s children as they grow into adulthood during the tumultuous years of World War I.

With Anne’s youngest daughter Rilla as the central protagonist, Rilla of Ingleside is the poignant story of a young woman coming of age at a time when people thought the world might be coming to an end.

Rilla grows from a spoiled and flighty young teen to a capable and level-headed young woman as she watches the young men in her community – her brothers included – march off to war.

While it’s not central to the story, a highlight of this book is Dog Monday, the little yellow dog belonging to Rilla’s eldest brother, whose loyalty as he patiently waits at the train station for his master’s return knows no bounds.

Although it’s the final book in a series, it can be read as a standalone book.

Flush is an experimental novella by Virginia Woolf that relays the biography of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s beloved cocker spaniel.

Told from the titular Flush’s point of view, Woolf mixes imagination with research, drawing largely from Browning’s own poems about the dog for inspiration, as she portrays the pup’s inner thoughts as he goes from a carefree country puppy to the city dog of a reclusive poetess, and back to the country as the Brownings marry and flee London for the Italian countryside.

This is a story fraught with dangers and full of triumphs and sweet moments that will warm the hearts of any dog lover.

Any Dean Koontz fan knows that the author loves dogs – golden retrievers in particular.

His books often feature loyal and empathetic pups, often with unnatural or even preternatural intelligence, and this book is no exception.

The story opens with protagonist Amy Redwing on what is anything but a typical rescue of a golden named Nickie from its abusive owner – a golden who, Amy quickly realizes, is also anything but typical.

The dog also has a strange effect on Amy’s lover, Brian, who has been plagued with harassment from his psychotic ex-wife and her threats to harm the mentally disabled daughter he fathered. Responding to a particularly insidious threat, Amy and Brian risk everything to rescue the girl, with Nickie in tow.

In true Koontz fashion, the dog’s true nature becomes clear as she becomes instrumental in rescuing both lives and souls from destruction.

The fourth book of the series that spawned the hit TV show Outlander is notable for a number of things, not the least of which is the debut of Rollo, a wolf/Irish wolfhound hybrid who’s won in a game of dice by the Frazers’ nephew, Ian Murray.

Quickly becoming Ian’s shadow, Rollo goes on to be a constant presence throughout the series, sometimes intimidating, sometimes exasperating, and often comforting to those under his watch.

Rollo is a very good dog and a definite highlight of this dramatic series that’s a wild mash-up of historical and science fiction.

You may have been slightly traumatized by this book (or the movie it inspired) as a kid in grade school, but don’t let that stop you from revisiting this autobiographical tale of a young boy and his loyal coonhounds.

Set in eastern Oklahoma in the foothills of the Ozarks, the book follows young Billy as he works odd jobs and saves toward his dream of owning a pair of dogs who can accompany him on raccoon hunts.

When he finally obtains Old Dan and Little Ann, the dogs touch his life in unexpected ways, becoming loyal and loving companions as well as the best hunting dogs around. But a tragic turn of events give Billy a taste of adulthood and reveal the divine hand of Providence at work in his life.

It’s a tear-jerker, but it’s a must-read for dog lovers.