When Abigail Thomas’s husband, Rich, was hit by a car, his brain shattered. Subject to rages, terrors, and hallucinations, he must live the rest of his life in an institution. He has no memory of what he did the hour, the day, the year before. This tragedy is the ground on which Abigail had to build a new life. How she built that life is a story of great courage and great change, of moving to a small country town, of a new family composed of three dogs, knitting, and friendship, of facing down guilt and discovering gratitude. It is also about her relationship with Rich, a man who lives in the eternal present, and the eerie poetry of his often uncanny perceptions. This wise, plainspoken, beautiful book enacts the truth Abigail discovered in the five years since the accident: You might not find meaning in disaster, but you might, with effort, make something useful of it.
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“A Three Dog Life is, I think, the best memoir I have ever read.  It’s sad, terrifying, and scorchingly honest.  It’s also a testament to the power of love, suggesting that even when love isn’t enough…somehow, it is.  This book is a punch to the heart.  Read it.”
—Stephen King


“Abigail Thomas navigates a life redefined by ambiguous loss—a beloved husband who ‘is there and not there.’  She makes sense of mangled senses where a new logic is encoded; she lets mystery stand where translation is not possible.  Her many gifts as a writer and deeply generous person show us what is possible when two brave people examine a reconfigured life—one that conjures the uncanny, spotlights the power of art, and amplifies the meaning and reach of love.”
—Amy Hempel

Cover & author photographs by Jennifer May