
Will's Red Coat
The Story of One Old Dog Who Chose to Live Again
HarperCollins · Print & ebook · February 6, 2018
Boston Globe Bestseller A true story of acceptance, perseverance, and the possibility of love and redemption as evocative, charming, and powerful as the New York Times bestseller Following Atticus.
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- Who it’s for
- A hard-won bond with an elderly dog makes for a tender, unsentimental reading experience.
- Themes
- Animal rescue, Perseverance and resilience, Love and redemption
- Genres
- Pet Stories & Essays, Dogs, Personal Memoirs
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Matched by what the books are about, then ordered by what their readers also loved. Most of these share its genre: Personal Memoirs.
Following AtticusTom Ryan69% matchAlso shares Dogs
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We Should All Be BirdsBrian Buckbee, Carol Ann Fitzgerald54% match
Gizelle's Bucket ListFern Watt56% matchAlso shares Pet Stories & Essays and Dogs
The Book of CharlieDavid Von Drehle53% match
In the Sanctuary of OutcastsNeil White, Neil W. White III53% match
An Invisible ThreadLaura Schroff, Alex Tresniowski54% match
For younger readers: The Eternal Soldier, Togo, The Eyes and the Impossible
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Start with this bookAbout this book
Boston Globe Bestseller A true story of acceptance, perseverance, and the possibility of love and redemption as evocative, charming, and powerful as the New York Times bestseller Following Atticus. Drawn by an online post, Tom Ryan adopted Will, a frightened, deaf, and mostly blind elderly dog, and brought him home to live with him and Atticus. The only owners Will ever knew had grown too fragile to take care of themselves, or of him.
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Ultimately, Will was left at a kill shelter in New Jersey. Tom hoped to give Will a place to die with dignity, amid the rustic beauty of the White Mountains of his New Hampshire home. But when Will bites him numerous times and acts out in violent displays, Tom realizes he is in for a challenge. With endless patience and the kind of continued empathy Tom has nurtured in his relationship with Atticus, Will eventually begins to thrive. Soon, the angry, hurt, depressed, and near-death oldster has transformed into a happy, gamboling companion with a puppy-like zest for discovery. Will perseveres for two and a half years, inspiring hundreds of thousands of Tom and Atticus’s fans with his courage, resilience, and unforgettable heart. A story of a dog and an indelible bond that is beautiful, heartbreaking, uplifting, and unforgettable, Will’s Red Coat honors the promise held in all of us, at any stage of life. Will’s Red Coat includes eight pages of color photographs.
Patience, Relearned
A hard-won bond with an elderly dog makes for a tender, unsentimental reading experience.
Come here for
- The messy, moving work of earning a frightened dog's trust
- A true story about care that meets a dog where he is
Expect
- Heartbreak alongside warmth and flashes of joy
- A sustained narrative centered on patience, resilience, and companionship
Where it sits
| Personal Memoirs | 81% |
|---|---|
| Dogs | 53% |
| Pet Stories & Essays | 45% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- Women's Lives
- Personal Memoirs
- New England History
- The Americas History
Show all 8 publisher categories
- Women's History
- Animals
- Dogs
- Pet Stories & Essays
- Authors
- Tom Ryan
- Publisher
- HarperCollins
- Published
- February 6, 2018
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Theme
- Animal rescue · Perseverance and resilience · Love and redemption
- Reading lane
- Women's Lives