The Call

A veterinarian narrates this novel about his young family in New England. When they are struck by a crisis that is hard to imagine, the story follows how they hold on to loyalty, hope, and belief. The narrator's measured, gentle, and sometimes funny voice carries the telling from start to finish.

Yannick Murphy is known for observing people closely and for a close, personal way of narrating. Readers who enjoy the work of Rivka Galchen or Padgett Powell may find the same attention to ordinary life here. The book also sits alongside the author's earlier novel, Signed, Mata Hari.