Saving Gracie - by Carol Bradley (Hardcover)

About the Book

This touching narrative chronicles how one little dog, Gracie, is transformedfrom a bedraggled animal worn out from bearing puppies at a puppy mill into aloving, healthy member of her new family.

Book Synopsis

A compelling true story of one dog's rescue from a Pennsylvania puppy mill

This touching narrative uses the poignant makeover of Gracie, a sickly Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, to tell the story of America's hidden puppy mills-commercial kennels that breed dogs in horrific living conditions and churn out often-diseased and emotionally damaged puppies for sale.

Saving Gracie chronicles how one little dog is transformed from a bedraggled animal worn out from bearing puppies into a loving, healthy member of her new family; and how her owner, Linda Jackson, is changed from a person who barely tolerated dogs to a woman passionately determined not only to save Gracie's life, but also to get the word out about the millions of American puppy mill dogs who need our help.

• A touching story of survival and redemption
• Written by award-winning journalist Carol Bradley
• Newsworthy issues call animal lovers to action

Join journalist Carol Bradley as she draws back the curtain on the world of illegal puppy production in Saving Gracie.

From the Back Cover

Praise for "Saving Gracie"

""Saving Gracie" is heart-rending but also wonderfully stirring and empowering. The operators of puppy mills are arrogant, greedy, and cruel, but the people committed to putting them out of business make you want to cheer--and they restore your faith in humanity. Carol Bradley does a great service to dogs by telling this story."
--Dean Koontz, "New York Times" bestselling author

"Carol Bradley seizes a national moment in "Saving Gracie." With deft investigative skill and a loving heart, she tells the story of Gracie, and her sojourn from a puppy mill. If we are judged as human beings by the way we treat our animals, this is an eye-opening account, direct and informative, one you will not be able to put down."
--Adriana Trigiani, bestselling author of "Very Valentine and Big Stone Gap"

""Saving Gracie" is one of those rare books that will at once disturb, inspire, and move you to action. Read this outstanding book about the enduring strength of the human-animal bond and share it widely. It is that important."
--Marc Bekoff, author of "The Emotional Lives of Animals, Wild Justice, and The Animal Manifesto"

"In this book about the best and the worst of human behavior, we see that the best in both humans and canines prevails. Bradley's cast of angels will fill your heart with joy and gratitude that such souls exist. This book is essential reading for anyone who loves dogs and thinks justice matters."
--Susan Richards, author of the "New York Times" bestseller "Chosen by a Horse"

""Saving Gracie" is a story told with verve, with compassion, with style, and with marvelous intelligence. Any dog lover will be happy to add this to the growing list of wonderful books about dogs."
--Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, bestselling author of "Dogs Never Lie About Love" and "The Face on Your Plate"

Review Quotes

* "...a scorching investigation of puppy mills... this book is an impassioned call to action." (People Magazine, March 8, 2010)

"Bradley's compelling account propels readers on a roller-coaster ride of emotion as they follow Gracie's journey from a squalid puppy mill to a loving home. But this is also an excellent exposé of a shady industry--it describes legislative attempts to control the large-scale breeding of dogs and evaluates the effectiveness of those efforts." (Library Journal, February 1, 2010)

Journalist Bradley exposes the hidden world of puppy mills, where dogs are caged like chickens and forced to repeatedly breed until they die. Unlike most factory farm animals that endure painful confinement and are slaughtered within six months of birth, mill breeding dogs are sentenced to many years of existence in deplorable conditions; many don't learn to walk because their cages don't give them enough room to stand. Bradley details the raid of one such mill, Mike-Mar Kennel in Oxford, Pa., which led to the seizure of more than 300 dogs, mostly adults that had languished for years with broken limbs and untreated diseases. Dog 132, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel later named Gracie, was rescued during the raid. Nearly blind, with decayed teeth and a strong aversion to human contact, Gracie flourished under the love and patience of her adoptive owner, Linda Jackson. Bradley's powerful narrative will tug at heartstrings, raise public awareness, and, hopefully, help put an end to puppy mills. (Feb.) (Publishers Weekly, January 4th, 2010)

* "...a scorching investigation of puppy mills... this book is an impassioned call to action." (People Magazine, March 8, 2010)

"Bradley's compelling account propels readers on a roller-coaster ride of emotion as they follow Gracie's journey from a squalid puppy mill to a loving home. But this is also an excellent exposéeacute; of a shady industry-it describes legislative attempts to control the large-scale breeding of dogs and evaluates the effectiveness of those efforts." (Library Journal, February 1, 2010)

Journalist Bradley exposes the hidden world of puppy mills, where dogs are caged like chickens and forced to repeatedly breed until they die. Unlike most factory farm animals that endure painful confinement and are slaughtered within six months of birth, mill breeding dogs are sentenced to many years of existence in deplorable conditions; many don't learn to walk because their cages don't give them enough room to stand. Bradley details the raid of one such mill, Mike-Mar Kennel in Oxford, Pa., which led to the seizure of more than 300 dogs, mostly adults that had languished for years with broken limbs and untreated diseases. Dog 132, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel later named Gracie, was rescued during the raid. Nearly blind, with decayed teeth and a strong aversion to human contact, Gracie flourished under the love and patience of her adoptive owner, Linda Jackson. Bradley's powerful narrative will tug at heartstrings, raise public awareness, and, hopefully, help put an end to puppy mills. (Feb.) (Publishers Weekly, January 4th, 2010)

About the Author

Carol Bradley is a former newspaper reporter who studied Animal Law as a 2004 Nieman Fellow at Harvard. She spent twenty-six years covering the U.S. Congress and state legislatures in Tennessee and New York and writing features and investigative stories in Montana. This is her first book.
www.carolbradley.com