After dropping out of med school, Emma Starling moved back from California to New Hampshire to care for her father, Clive. Dying from a mysterious brain disease, Clive has been hallucinating small animals and befriending the ghost of a long-dead naturalist. Unprepared to face her father's illness and her brother's recent recovery from rehab, Emma is hit with another surprise, her best friend from high school is missing, and no one is looking for her. Emma, lost and without a clear career, teams up with Clive to search for a miracle, the return of her friend, a remedy for her ailing father, and a cure for a town haunted by the opioid crisis.

Even though the topics covered in Unlikely Animals are heavy — death, the opioid epidemic, and caring for a parent — Hartnett writes a beautiful story with a whimsical voice and comforting storytelling. Unlikely Animals is narrated by the spirits of those buried in the local cemetery, a brilliant way to break the fourth wall by having the dead talk to the readers directly. Through the lens of the spirits, Hartnett conveys the intricate links between the dead and the living in a small community. I also adore the animals in the book: Moses, a Great Pyrenees lab mix, and Rasputin, a red fox. Any story featuring cute & clever animals automatically gets at least a four-star for me.

I read Unlikely Animals in between heavier reads and find it an absolute pleasure to read a light-hearted book that still conveys powerful messages with a heartwarming story.