After the death of her husband, two beguiling, energetic and demanding bundles of bravado bound into Kate Jennings’s life. Stanley and Sophie – the story of two border terriers in New York – is the result. In this slim, seductive book, Jennings brilliantly depicts that unique combination of joy, frustration, amusement and bemusement recognisable by anyone who has ever experienced dog companionship. But Jennings’s beautiful prose and intelligent observations ensure that Stanley and Sophie resonates beyond the story of two dogs and their antics, however entertaining – and sometimes embarrassing – those antics are.

Comprised of a series of short vignettes which include assessments of the dubious attitudes of dog breeders, interpretations of dogs by great writers, and a strange foray into Indonesia (where she encounters monkeys as pets), Jennings’s taut insights are stretched tight across each page – they’re uncompromising, unsentimental, and deeply moving. Jennings’s depiction of the unrivalled pleasures and singular stresses of dog ownership mean that Stanley and Sophie will appeal to anyone who’s ever had a dog, but her sharp compassion also engenders a reconsideration of our treatment of all animals. This is an exploration of not just of how dogs can enrich our lives, but also of how animals can make us more human.