Familiaris

By: David Wroblewski

Narrated by: Richard Poe

Oprah’s Book Club Pick for Summer 2024

The follow-up to the beloved #1 New York Times bestselling modern classic The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, Familiaris is the stirring origin story of the Sawtelle family and the remarkable dogs that carry the Sawtelle name.

It is spring 1919, and John Sawtelle’s imagination has gotten him into trouble … again. Now John and his newlywed wife, Mary, along with their two best friends and their three dogs, are setting off for Wisconsin’s northwoods, where they hope to make a fresh start—and, with a little luck, discover what it takes to live a life of meaning, purpose, and adventure. But the place they are headed for is far stranger and more perilous than they realize, and it will take all their ingenuity, along with a few new friends—human, animal, and otherworldly—to realize their dreams.

By turns hilarious and heartbreaking, mysterious and enchanting, Familiaris takes listeners on an unforgettable journey from the halls of a small-town automobile factory, through an epic midwestern firestorm and an ambitious WWII dog-training program, and far back into mankind’s ancient past, examining the dynamics of love and friendship, the vexing nature of families, the universal desire to create something lasting and beautiful, and of course, the species-long partnership between Homo sapiens and Canis familiaris.

©2024 David Wroblewski (P)2024 Blackstone Publishing

A great story！

If you love adventures, nature, and dogs, this is your story! There are some tough parts, but it filled my heart.

Excellent narrator

Amazing. True storytelling is a rarity. Narrator is fantastic. I highly recommend both of this authors books!

Excellent performance of a remarkable story

Enjoyed the well-written, compelling story. Sometimes sat in driveway to finish listening to a section

Great read!

I really enjoyed this story, well done! I highly recommend, time well spent for certain.

Great story

I loved this whole book. It was well written and well read. I was sorry to come to the end.

The long lost art of the telling of a unique story

It was a pleasure to listen to a wonderful story in which the author is not in a hurry, and takes the reader on an inspiring journey. This novel is long - 30 hours - and is worth every minute. So many authors these days are cookie-cutter novelists who churn out book after book in a series, same lead character, basically the same premise.

Familiaris is a novel that will stay with me for some time. Put in your earbuds, sit in a quiet place, and enjoy the experience.

And by the way, you are going to learn to love Frank. :)

The dogs

I read Edgar Sawtelle first and was captivated. The characters stayed with me for days. Then I found this. I just finished. I'm sad to have finished. It'll be a while before I get over this experience. I loved the characters,the setting, and the story of the dogs. I want a Sawtelle dog! Please give us more like this. It is a stunning piece of work.

Extraordinary!

This is one of the best books I have ever listened to and I listen to many! I liked Edgar Sawtelle, but loved this “prequel.”. The performance is wonderful. Within this one novel there are so many beautiful stories and characters, all lovingly told. The relationships and characters feel incredibly true to life, except when they are not meant to. Although you don’t have to read Edgar Sawtelle first, there are many beautiful surprises that you will only catch if you read both books.

Family values

Mythical creature was hard to grasp but I see the wisdom of using it now.

One of my favorite audible books of all time !

The story was so engrossing. Every character was intriguing and added to the story. The narration added so much to the experience. This is definitely an audiobook I will listen to again.