Well I had heard a rumour, but a glance around the local WH Smith bookshop while back in the UK has confirmed it. Animals are the new hot publishing sensation. 'Misery memoirs' are being nudged off the shelves (thank God – if ever there was genre I really dislike it's that one!) by cold noses and warm muzzles as all creatures great and small start invading publishers up and down the land.
I read a couple while travelling. Heart to Heart by Pea Horsley had me sniffing my way through the Meridiana flight from Florence to Gatwick and surreptitiously dabbing at my eyes with a hankie. Pea is an animal communicator and describes how she changed from sceptic to gifted psychic after getting a mind message from a rabbit of all things. Sounds unlikely and smaltzy, but it isn't at all.
The second volume having me grab the Kleenex was Twenty Wagging Tails by Barrie Hawkins, describing a year of rescuing and rehoming big (and not so big) dogs in Norfolk. I thought I was daft about dogs but Barrie and his wife Dorothy are quite amazing.
As a big animal lover myself with more than a tale or two of my own, (read about my crow rescue here) I am working on my own book to add to the shelves as well as ghosting two others on the topic. Watch this space!