A Dog in Georgia

In this beautiful story of connection and self-reflection, a missing dog in Georgia sets Amy Webb on an adventure away from her tumultuous marriage and lack-luster personal life and towards a journey of self-discovery and joy.

Amy Webb is a chef. Or rather, she was a chef. Somewhere along the way she also became a wife and a stepmother and an emergency contact, and the part of her that was a chef disappeared entirely- along with her sense of self. Which is why she is currently in the republic of Georgia, on a mission to find a lost dog named Angel, and, more importantly, the life’s purpose she once took for granted.

For months, Amy has escaped by watching Youtube videos of Angel walking the children of Tbilisi to school. When Angel goes missing, Amy volunteers to go find him. The fact that her husband may be having (another) affair and her stepson is away at college probably has something to do with it. Who is Amy, after all, if she’s not taking care of other people?

But to her surprise, Angel proves elusive, and while she does make friends with a number of stray dogs, what she finds in Tblisi is entirely human. Is she happy in her marriage? What happened to her career? Why doesn’t she ever cook anymore, even just for herself?

Helping her on this journey of self-discovery is a rebellious teenager, a mysterious and attractive Russian, and several post-Soviet grandmothers. And, of course, the rich food and culture and complicated politics of Georgia itself.

After a lifetime of looking away from her own needs and appetites, Amy is forced to confront what she really wants and how to finally find herself -

And a dog.

Lauren Grodstein is the author of the Read with Jenna pick We Must Not Think of Ourselves, The Washington Post Book of the Year The Explanation for Everything, and the New York Times-bestselling A Friend of the Family, among other works. Her stories, essays, and articles have appeared in various literary magazines and anthologies, and have been translated into French, German, Chinese, and Italian, among other languages. Her work has also appeared in Elle, The New York Times, Refinery29, Salon.com, Barrelhouse, Post Road, and The Washington Post. Her fiction has been recognized by the New York Public Library and Columbia University.

She lives in New Jersey with her husband, children, and two large dogs, and is a professor of English at Rutgers University-Camden, where she directs the MFA program in creative writing.