Fatima Bhutto has previously been longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction (for ‘The Shadow of the Crescent Moon’), but this memoir sees her tackling a period of her life (which encompasses the various Covid lockdowns) in which she’s in a relationship with a “man” (referred throughout as “the man” – pointedly in lower case). The man – who has an inveterate dedication to non-commitment – disappoints Bhutto at every turn, and one gets the sense that she wrote this book in order to try and understand why an ostensibly strong woman would put up with such an individual for so long. But this isn’t a “misery memoir”, as accompanying Bhutto every step of the way is Coco – her Jack Russell – and the terrier is a gateway for Bhutto to discuss the nature of loyalty, the relationship between animals – dogs in particular – and humans, and much more besides. The results are illuminating and compelling. RM

Published by 

Daunt Books