Wild Dogs by Helen Humphrey

When I was in Canada, one of the books I was looking out for was Wild Dogs (2004) by Helen Humphreys. I believe she has only written two novels set in contemporary Canada, and that was precisely the sort of novel I was on the hunt for. Having really admired her memoir Nocturne and novel Rabbit Foot Bill, I was keen to complete a trio. Even better, the copy I found in the basement of a bookshop in Inglewood, Calgary, was signed! I got to reading it pretty quickly, drawn in by these excellent opening paragraphs: The wild dogs roam the summer fields just outside of town. Their eyes flash, bright stars in the woods at night and they weave like fire through the dry grass towards the edge of the city, looking for something to kill and eat. Love is like those wild dogs. If it hunts you down, it will not let you go. And what you can never know from the beginning is how hard or how long you’ll love something; how even when it has gone the love you felt will still chase you down, loping like…