Anna Heyward writes with sublime curiosity, uncommon lucidity, and an open heart -about her dog Freddie, yes, but also about love, devotion, suffering, natural selection, conditioning, and humans' relationship with the nonhuman world. Philosophical, searching , brave, and deeply personal, but also thoroughly researched and scientifically serious, Living with Freddie is an incandescent debut. It had me entirely immersed from start to finish by its cinematic, perfectly-paced storytelling , as much as by its exciting, mind-altering meditations on, say, freedom, wonder, or the inner self. Although a pleasure to read, the book was unexpectedly heart-wrenching , too. I sobbed through the final third, but I couldn't put it down.