It’s a Dog’s Life by Leslie Kain

I hadn’t had a dog in my life since Maddie, the golden retriever that grew up with my kids. 

But after my husband and I recently said goodbye to our eighteen-year-old cat Sheba (who’d become blind, and sat beside me in my writing chair, often walking on my keyboard), it was time to again welcome a dog into our lives. Ron named him Java ― the six-month-old abused street mutt who instantly stole our hearts. 

It’s demanding, like having a newborn. One that has consumed most of my hours intended for writing. Training us, his adoptive parents. I won’t bore you with how adorable, sweet, friendly, smart, and lively Java is. Many of you know how important dogs can become to their owners. Well, they own us. 

Which is why dogs often play a key role in fiction. They can bring wisdom in disarming ways, which might be heavy-handed or dogmatic (no pun) coming from a human character. In addition to the iconic roles of Lassie and Old Yeller, who represented the warmth of childhood companionship and the lessons of growing up, canine characters often convey deep lessons to their adult humans. Such as ‘Enzo’ in The Art of Racing in the Rain, whose empathic loyalty serves as his human’s emotional anchor throughout devastating tragedies. And ‘Six-Thirty’ in Lessons in Chemistry teaches his human emotional and philosophical lessons: how to survive grief, the importance of connection, and the true meaning of family. 

Because I’m not a “plotter”, I never planned the appearance of a character in my books. They just appeared, unbidden. 

In Secrets In The Mirror, the main character Gavin, an identical mirror twin, has been raised with the expectation that he’s responsible for taking care of his twin, as well as everyone else in his family. One day as he drives along a Kauai road, he spots two little abandoned puppies ― clearly brothers ― in the brush. They had been terribly abused. He tries to nurse them back to health; Patches is the most grievously injured and Beggar is most insistently aggressive. However, Beggar doesn’t survive, while Patches does. Gavin realizes he can’t save everyone, not even his narcissistic twin Devon, who engages in self-destructive behavior. Then one-eyed, one-eared Patches ― demonstrating loyalty and resilience ― rescues Gavin from a fire set by Devon. 

In the sequel What Lies Buried, Patches finds and rescues Gavin’s two-year-old daughter who has been kidnapped, and later rescues Gavin who’s endangered by mobsters from his father’s and grandfather’s history―demonstrating the importance of surviving generational trauma. In the final book of the trilogy (Power Play, due 2027), Patches nearly dies rescuing Gavin’s wife and daughter. Cardinal rule of fiction: never let the dog die. 

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Leslie Kain leverages her background in psychology to write character-driven stories about rising above trauma and finding Self, which consistently prompts engaged discussion from readers and book clubs. Originally from Boston, she lives in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, with her husband and dog Java. In addition to completing her trilogy, she is currently revising her fourth novel and writing short stories. Leslie volunteers with the annual San Miguel Writers Conference and The Latin America Relief fund, and mentors local memoirists. She is available for remote zoom discussions with book clubs.

WHAT LIES BURIED

What Lies Buried…doesn’t stay buried.

Scarred by a lifetime of emotional abuse and traumatic violence, Gavin battles the triggers of Complex PTSD. His wife Katie is determined to support him despite the strain of his unpredictable reactions on their marriage.

But returning to Boston to settle his father’s estate reactivates Gavin’s childhood scars, and more triggers. Then when he uncovers his family’s mob history, his volatile reactions put him in the crosshairs of dangerous people. Worried for his safety, Katie packs up their toddler and joins him. While there, she begins sorting through her late parents’ keepsakes, finding evidence of the artistic talent she abandoned after her father died, when she became child caregiver to her disabled mother. Eager to revive her unfulfilled past, Katie copes with Gavin’s increasingly unstable behavior through her painting and new friendships that encourage her journey to self-discovery.

As Gavin resists treatment and goes off the rails, secrets of his family’s past threaten them all. The generational dysfunction in Kain’s award-winning Secrets In The Mirror continues, as Katie faces her own emotional wounds and must choose between saving her marriage or saving their child…and herself.

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Category: Contemporary Women Writers, On Writing