Is it ever too late to dream? Author
Diane Daniels Manning explores
the implications in Almost
Perfect, a touching novel about an older woman who feels her time has
passed and a 14 year-old boy, with mild autism, whose dogged determination demonstrates
how one is never too old—or limited—to continue to have goals and aspirations.
The story begins as Elizabeth
"Bess" Rutledge has all but given up her livelihood, serving as one
of America's top breeders of Standard Poodles, and her dreams of someday winning
Westminster, the premiere dog show in all the world. Bess closes up her once-famous
kennel, "Umpawaug," located in rural Connecticut and keeps only two
dogs: McCreery, one of her aging champions, and his rambunctious, handsome son,
Breaker.
At the same time, Benny, a lonely
boy who lives nearby—unhappily, with his neglectful father and stepmother and a
distant mother whose affection Benny fervently craves—longs to have a dog to keep
him company. When the boy with "curly, reddish hair and baby smooth cheeks"
accidentally discovers Umpawaug Kennel and meets and falls in love with McCreery
and Breaker, his desire to have a dog grows even stronger. His father remains adamant
against the prospect. But when Benny learns of Bess's history with dog shows, he
decides that if he can learn to become a dog handler and ultimately show Bess's
champions at Westminster, he might finally win the attention of his self-centered
mother.
Set-in-her-ways, headstrong
Bess initially resists Benny's proposition. But with Benny's relentless prodding
and determination—along with the encouraging support of Bess's sister, son and
a counselor from the special school Benny attends—Bess softens and an unlikely
partnership-mentorship forms.
Can these two, vastly different
people help each other fulfill their respective dreams? Can Bess really put her
faith in Benny? Is he capable of becoming a dog handler and facing the stresses
of learning how to show Bess's beloved poodles?
Diane Daniels
Manning has crafted a sensitive, hope-filled story about a friendship that
slowly blooms in and out of dog show arenas, while also offering a behind-the-scenes
glimpse inside the suspenseful world of show-dog competition. McCreery and
Breaker may be at the heart of this moving novel, but they also serve the
larger theme of how dogs and canine companions often bring unlikely people
together, forming life-changing bonds that can resurrect and heal the human
spirit.
Beltor, $9.99
paperback, 9780578136394 , 342 pp
Publication Date: January
29, 2014
Note: Up
to 100% of the author's profits will be donated to charities serving animals
and children. Visit the author's website (www.diandanielsmanning.com)
to learn more