‘I have many decisions to make, such as which of my stories to tell … There are lives of long ago that press up against me more closely than lives more recent, and many of those are more futile than meaningful. It is a curious but welcome thing, the empathy that many humans have for cannines. They would rather learn of the suffering of their own kind than that of mine.’

Smooch is a ‘Whistler’, a genetically altered lapdog with special talents, including the ability to remember his previous incarnations and the ability to communicate directly from his brain by electronically downloading his thoughts onto disc. Smooch has been reincarnated many times, and has lived on many of the great laps of history, past and future. He can recall many of history’s key moments, such as the birth of Jesus and the imprisonment of Mary Queen of Scots.

The Whistler is a virtuosic feat - wise, fun and intelligent. Smooch’s current reincarnation is in Sydney in the year 2318. The world has gone to hell: democratic government worldwide has given way to a society run by corporations, pollution is everywhere, and society is heavily stratified between haves and have nots.

It is a novel about history, the forgetting of it and the rewriting of it, and a satire on a society which has lost compassion in the process.