Paul Yoon

The best-reviewed book of the summer by The New York Times, Time, NPR, and more, Etna is a “devastating and gorgeous” (The New York Times Book Review), “hypnotic” (Time) literary novel that follows an ex-military dog who leaves the soldiers he once served and sets out on an odyssey across a war-torn country in search of home, hope, and a life beyond conflict—this is a novel about the power of an idea, about never giving up, and ultimately an “epic journey of hope” (Booklist, starred review) that finds light in the most dire of times.

"No dog lover should miss this." —People
"Don't let the book's length mislead you…Etna's odyssey deserves the epithet 'epic.'" —NPR, Best of August

Set in a fictional country in the present day, this is a story told through the eyes of an ex-military dog, Etna. After surviving years of a devastating war, Etna decides one night to leave the men he has fought alongside for years and return home—to the place where he was taken from when he was young, in the thin but persistent hope that if a home exists for him, it might be there.

Thus begins an exhilarating odyssey told through the eyes of a dog as he traverses across ruined landscapes and fights to survive in a world that, even in peacetime, proves to be just as precarious. Along the way, he encounters other animals and humans who are attempting to figure out how to start again. What makes a life when there is no home to go back to? How do we begin to trust each other again after such profound loss?

This is a novel about the power of an idea, about never giving up, and ultimately a novel about finding hope in the most dire of times.