The Dogs of Littlefield

Longlisted for the Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction 2014 
 
Littlefield, Massachusetts: home to psychologists, college professors and their over-achieving children, and recently lauded as one of the Ten Best Places to Live in America. If happiness had a home it would be here. 
 
Then the first dog is poisoned. At first, there is shock and disbelief: who would commit such a cruel act - and why? As more dogs die, residents notice other signs that something's not right in their home: the appearance of menacing grafitti, the persistent triggering of fire alarms at the middle school and the haunted looks neighbours begin exchanging. 
 
For the Downings, Margaret, Bill and daughter Julia, Littlefield's gathering darkness hints at flaws in their own lives. What is wrong? What can save them? 
 
'Well-observed shrewd satire . . . sharp, funny and painful. Berne takes the domestic and turns it into the majestic' Sunday Telegraph

Berne takes the domestic and turns it into the majestic

A very well-written novel: clean, delicate, both devastating and funny in its well-chosen detail . . . it's insightful, too, with a clearly original mind behind it. Highly recommended

As astute in her observations of contemporary culture as she is in capturing the minutiae of longing, disappointment and loss

Fans of Anne Tyler and Alison Lurie will enjoy this peek behind the white picket fences

This funny novels explores the flaws of a perfect neighbourhood with a bizarre killer on the loose

A compelling novel that examines life, love and loss with a cynical but insightful world view. Original and brilliant

Suzanne Berne's first novel, A Crime in the Neighbourhood, won the 1999 Women's Prize. She is also the author of A Perfect Arrangement, The Ghost at the Table, Missing Lucile and The Dogs of Littlefield. Suzanne Berne lives with her husband and two daughters near Boston.

Littlefield, Massachusetts: home to psychologists, college professors and their over-achieving children, and recently lauded as one of the Ten Best Places to Live in America. If happiness had a home it would be here. 
 
Then the first dog is poisoned. At first, there is shock and disbelief: who would commit such a cruel act - and why? As more dogs die, residents notice other signs that something's not right in their home: the appearance of menacing grafitti, the persistent triggering of fire alarms at the middle school and the haunted looks neighbours begin exchanging. 
 
For the Downings, Margaret, Bill and daughter Julia, Littlefield's gathering darkness hints at flaws in their own lives. What is wrong? What can save them?

The Ghost at the Table

'Families are toxic...' 
 
Thanksgiving, New England, and writer Cynthia has been persuaded by elder sister Frances to come and visit for the autumn holiday. Cynthia is reluctant to join in this family reunion because she'd rather not see their long-estranged father. Yet Frances is adamant that they must all meet to clear the air - poisoned ever since their mother died when they were children. 
 
But Cynthia has her own ideas about how to use this family occasion. It's time to lift the lid on some unwelcome home truths about what happened all those years ago. And this time her daddy's feelings are not to be spared ...

Suzanne Berne

Winner of the Women’s Prize for Fiction

In the long hot summer of 1972, three events shattered the serenity of ten year old Marsha's life: her father ran away with her mother's sister Ada; Boyd Ellison, a young boy, was molested and murdered; and Watergate made the headlines. 
 
Living in a world no longer safe or familiar, Marsha turns increasingly to 'the book of evidence' in which she records the doings of the neighbors, especially of shy Mr Green next door. But as Marsha's confusion and her murder hunt accelerate, her 'facts' spread the damage cruelly and catastrophically throughout the neighborhood.

Suzanne Berne

Books by Suzanne Berne

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