by Evan HornungText
Dog Boy is a story about four-year-old Romochka, abandoned by his mother and uncle in Moscow in the mid 1980s. Alone in an apartment with no food and no heating, Romochka is forced onto the streets, with the voice of his mother ringing in his ears - 'Do not talk to strangers'. Hungry and freezing, the boy sees a dog on the street and recalls a memory of hugging a neighbour's dog and being warmed by the fur. He follows the dog into the basement of a blackened, windowless church, and so begins the tale of Romochka's life as a dog.
This beautiful and brutal book is eloquently written, and it's impossible not to be touched by the characters (both dog and human). Long after you finish reading this, the story will replay in your head.
by Karen
