Coffee with a canine: Allie Larkin & Stella

Featured at Coffee with a Canine: Allie Larkin & Stella.

The author, on how she and Stella were united:

Before we moved to the Bay Area, we lived in Rochester, NY. We had a German Shepherd named Argo (who was actually the cover-dog for the hardcover version of my first novel, Stay). When we had to travel, we used to board him at a great place just outside of Rochester. The people who ran the boarding facility knew of a thirteen-month-old German Shepherd who needed a new home and called to see if we’d be interested in adding to our family.

Stella was a holy terror when we first got her and Argo was miserable about it. But eventually, they settled in and became best friends. When Argo got cancer, Stella was the most brilliant comfort to him. All of her anxiety and young dog hyperactivity faded away, and she was calm and careful for him. It was beautiful to witness. The...[read on]

About Larkin's Swimming for Sunlight, from the publisher:

When recently divorced Katie Ellis and her rescue dog Bark move back in with Katie’s grandmother in Florida, she becomes swept up in a reunion of her grandmother’s troupe of underwater performers—finding hope and renewal in unexpected places, in this sweet novel perfect for fans of Kristan Higgins and Claire Cook.

Aspiring costume designer Katie gave up everything in her divorce to gain custody of her fearful, faithful rescue dog, Barkimedes. While she figures out what to do next, she heads back to Florida to live with her grandmother, Nan.

But Katie quickly learns there’s a lot she doesn’t know about Nan—like the fact that in her youth Nan was a mermaid performer in a roadside attraction show, swimming and dancing underwater with a close-knit cast of talented women. Although most of the mermaids have since lost touch, Katie helps Nan search for her old friends on Facebook, sparking hopes for a reunion show. Katie is up for making some fabulous costumes, but first, she has to contend with her crippling fear of water.

As Katie’s college love Luca, a documentary filmmaker, enters the fray, Katie struggles to balance her hopes with her anxiety, and begins to realize just how much Bark’s fears are connected to her own, in this thoughtful, charming novel about hope after loss and friendships that span generations.

Visit Allie Larkin's website.

Coffee with a Canine: Allie Larkin & Stella.

--Marshal Zeringue