The Dogs of Littlefield - Hardcover

"Berne (Missing Lucile, 2010, etc.), who won the Orange Prize for her first novel, A Crime in the Neighborhood (1997), is a sure hand at the dinner parties, school concerts, teacup tempests, and true moments of suspense that make a suburban comedy of manners par excellence. It's too bad about the dogs, but they died for a good cause."
--Kirkus (Starred Review)

"Her unique voice comes through in the combination of a forensic approach to her characters' foibles and lyrical descriptions of the changing of the seasons in New England. This is an apparently light tale but there are dark shadows in Littlefield too. Berne's novel is both absorbing and amusing, and lingers in the memory."
--The Independent (UK)

"A look at suburban life that manages to be both scathing and sympathetic, Berne's latest is a smart, amusing satire."
--Booklist

"Berne has done it again with her latest insightful, character-driven, novel set in modern suburbia...[a] thoughtful satire filled with unforgettable characters."

--Publishers Weekly

"A compelling, poignant yet unsentimental novel that examines life, love and loss. Original and brilliant" -Sunday Mirror

"Nuanced, thoroughly enjoyable, excellent" -Guardian

"Very well -written, devastating and funny ... insightful, too. Highly recommended" -Daily Mail

"Brilliantly done. Gentle and often moving" -Sunday Times

"Well-observed shrewd satire ... sharp, funny and painful. Berne takes the domestic and turns it into the majestic" -Sunday Telegraph

A “brilliantly done” (Sunday Times, London) comedy of manners that explores the unease behind the manicured lawns of suburban America from the Orange Prize–winning author of A Crime in the Neighborhood.

Littlefield, Massachusetts, named one of the Ten Best Places to Live in America, full of psychologists and college professors, is proud of its fine schools, its girls’ soccer teams, its leafy streets, and charming village center.

Yet no sooner has sociologist Dr. Clarice Watkins arrived to study the elements of “good quality of life” than someone begins poisoning the town’s 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 far deeper disorder? Certainly these types of things don’t happen in Littlefield.

With an element of suspense, satirical social commentary, and in-depth character portraits, Suzanne Berne’s nuanced novel reveals the discontent concealed behind the manicured lawns and picket fences of darkest suburbia. The Dogs of Littlefield is “a compelling, poignant yet unsentimental novel that examines life, love, and loss” (Sunday Mirror, UK).