~FRIDAY FINDS~

A Widow, A Chihuahua and Harry Truman

I have not had the pleasure of reading this book yet. Since it is a Biography, I am adding it to my Non-Fiction Five Reading Challenge. Hopefully I can carve out some time this weekend to read it.

~"I will never regret having wandered into our local pet store that dreary, rainy Christmas following my husband's death, and falling head over heels for three pounds of dog that would change my live forever."~

From the inside flap:

For anyone who has experienced the death of a loved one, this story is all too familiar. Having lost her husband to cancer, Mary Beth Crain struggled to cope with the ensuing grief. Life seemed meaningless, and getting through the most mundane tasks took herculean effort.

One December day, wondering how she was going to survive her first Christmas as a widow, Mary Beth wandered into a pet store hoping to cheer herself up with a "kitten fix." Instead, she found herself face-to-face with the most adorable dog she had ever seen - a Chihuahua puppy not much bigger than her hand. Two weeks later, she was the proud, but terrified, owner of her first dog, and she was about to embark upon a singular adventure that would revive her spirit.

Mary Beth named the puppy Truman, after her idol, former President Harry S. Truman, whose down-to-earth wisdom she had often turned to during life's hard times. Inspired by the no-nonsense writings of a leader whose humility, optimism, and common sense shine through his words, and forced by the unquenchable spirit of her puppy to take a new and often hilarious view of the world, Mary Beth began her return to the land of the living.

In this touching and humorous story, Crain chronicles her journey from happiness found in mid-life, to illness, death and hopelessness, and back to happiness again. A poignant tale of widowhood is punctuated by wry and witty accounts of the high and low points of a new dog owner's life. Along the way, we also learn about Harry S. Truman and why he has earned such a hallowed place in the American consciousness.

Told with raw emotion, grace and charm, this story overflows with a warmth found only on the other side of adversity, giving the priceless gift of encouragement to all those who have ever loved and lost.

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers, 2000

202 Pages

ISBN: 9 780062 516725