Brute Heart: A Novel

A small-town veterinarian is faced with the ultimate dilemma when her alcohlic father contracts terminal cancer and insists she end his life. Her father knows she has the tools and training to euthanize him, so why is she saying no when she ends the misery of suffering animals? The daughter believes all life is precious. She only destroys an animal in her care after all known remedies or treatments have been exhausted. But fearful of her father, even hating him at times, the young veterinarian finds herself torn between letting her father suffer and committing a crime that could send her to prison.

Does she obey him one last time? While the question keeps readers turning pages, BRUTE HEART keeps them entertained with many warm and humorous scenes involving three best friends, family pets, and the animals she treats as a veterinarian. Some of the animal roles are played by a dog named Sonofabitch, Cleo the rabbit, a Black Angus bull that falls out of a horse trailer, and a cat named Dead.

BRUTE HEART is an unusual blend of delightful James Herriot tales and the dark poem, Daddy by Sylvia Plath. Animal lovers will enjoy this novel, and so will fans of hardship to recovery stories and family dramas.