By Carolyn Parkhurst
Little, Brown and Company
Hardcover, Paperback and Audio Cassette (Abridged) Editions

In The Dogs of Babel, Carolyn Parkhurst paints an astonishing picture of love, love lost and survival. Paul Iverson had a beautiful life with his wife Lexy and dog Lorelei. One phone call and his life is changed forever.

Lexy is found dead in their backyard after apparently falling from the large apple tree and the only witness is Lorelei.

The Dogs of Babel Excerpt As it was, though, I dialed my home number and a man answered the phone. "Ransome residence," he said. I paused for a moment, confused. "May I speak to Lexy?" I said finally. "May I ask who's calling?" the man said. "This is her husband, Paul. Iverson." "Mr. Iverson, this is Detective Anthony Stack. I'm going to need you to come home now. There's been an accident. ©2003 Carolyn Parkhurst Published with permission from Little, Brown and Co.

How did she get way up in that tree? Why? Did she really fall?

Paul struggles with so many unanswered questions and with learning to move on through life without his wife. He begins to experiment with Lorelei to try to get answers.

Many stories and past studies that Paul finds have shown that dogs have been taught to talk. If this could work with Lorelei maybe he could finally get the answers he's been looking for and get some closure.

Aside from trying to pry the answers out of Lorelei unsuccessfully, Paul begins to take notice of strange clues around the house. After many years of marriage certain items that have always been in the same spot now are not and then there are the weird phone calls as well.

Paul starts to realize things are not always what they seem and begins to get closer and closer to figuring out the events that took place on the last day of Lexy's life.

Bookworm's Briefing
Parkhurst tell this powerful and astonishing story in a beautiful poetic style. This novel is captivating and mysterious enough to grip the reader's attention until the very last page.

Carolyn Parkhurst's fiction has been published in the North American Review, the Minnesota Review, Hawaii Review and the Crescent Review. She resides in Washington, D.C., with her husband and their son.