Unlikely Animals was the March pick for the Modern Mrs. Darcy Book Club. 

In this novel, we meet the Starling family. Emma returns to her small New Hampshire hometown because her father has fallen ill with a mysterious brain disease. Emma was born with a natural healing ability that she feels she has lost and now she must confess this to her mother, plus the fact that she hasn’t been going to med school like her mother believes she has. Meanwhile, Emma’s brother is living with their parents after his latest stint in rehab and Emma’s high school best friend has gone missing and it seems like Mr. Starling is the only one looking for her. The problem is that Mr. Starling’s illness is causing him to hallucinate wild animals and the ghost of a famous New Hampshire naturalist.

From the book’s blurb: “Set against the backdrop of a small town in the throes of a very real opioid crisis, Unlikely Animals is a tragicomic novel about familial expectations, imperfect friendships, and the possibility of resurrecting that which had been thought irrevocably lost.”

After reading the blurb, I thought this book was trying to cover a *lot* of territory: infidelity, the opioid crisis, an ailing parent with dementia, a 20-something feeling lost, and a few other things. So, I was worried none of it would really land, but I really, really enjoyed it! The quirky sense of humour was so charming and the choice of narrator makes this book so unique! This book has a lot of heart and I definitely plan to read more of Annie Hartnett’s work.