To Dance with the White Dog - by Terry Kay (Paperback)

About the Book

This brilliantly realized novel of life, loss, mystery and hope has garnered exceptional critical praise. An old man (whose wife of 57 years has died) and his mythic white dog teach a lasting lesson in love, hope and the importance of believing in yourself to his worried child.

Book Synopsis

Sam Peek's children are worried. Since that "saddest day" when Cora, his beloved wife of fifty-seven good years, died, no one knows how he will survive. How can this elderly man live alone on his farm? How can he keep driving his dilapidated truck down to the fields to care for his few rows of pecan trees? And when Sam begins telling his children about a dog as white as the pure driven snow -- that seems invisible to everyone but him -- his children think that grief and old age have finally taken their toll.
But whether the dog is real or not, Sam Peek -- "one of the smartest men in the South when it comes to trees" -- outsmarts them all. Sam and the White Dog will dance from the pages of this bittersweet novel and into your heart, as they share the mystery of life, and begin together a warm and moving final rite of passage.
Winner of the Southeastern Library Association's Outstanding Author Award.

Review Quotes

"To Dance with the White Dog is what literature is -- or should be -- all about....Kay is simply a miraculous writer....This book...burns with life."--Anne Rivers Siddons

"A hauntingly beautiful story about love, family, and relationships"--The Most Reverend Desmond M. Tutu

"A master storyteller."-- "The Atlanta Journal-Constitution"

"Manages to texture a plethora of everyday details with a kind of subtle, supernatural resonance."-- "Kirkus Reviews"

"Terry Kay is a perfect writer for those who love to read. His prose contains music and passion and fire. His work is tender and heartbreaking and memorable."--New York Times bestselling author Pat Conroy

"This short book moves like poetry....A loving eulogy to old age....A tender celebration of life, made poignant by death being so close at hand."-- "Los Angeles Times"

About the Author

Terry Kay (1938-2020) was the author of numerous novels, including Taking Lottie Home, Valley of Light, The Runaway, Shadow Song, and the now-classic To Dance with the White Dog, twice nominated for the American Booksellers Book of the Year Award, and winner of the Southeastern Library Association Book of the Year Award.