If you are an alert reader, you may have spotted some of my family names cropping up here and there in various works of fiction. Thank you Georgia, Chelsea, Chase, Gage, Eloise, Garrett, Ewan, Gordon, Sadie, and James for your support. And thank you Evie Michon, Ted Michon, Maria Hjelm, and Jacob, Maya, and Ethan Michon for being family and also for supporting my work and lending a name or two to my novels. I love you all.
I also have two goddaughters. They used to be cool kids and now they are cool adults. Carolina and Annie, you’re the best. Making me the godfather was an offer I couldn’t refuse.
I mentioned the study guides earlier. For my younger reader novels, Judy Robbens writes the study guides. You can find all of them, free for download, at adogspurpose.com. No peanut butter sandwiches, which my web team says would be “too impossible.” You just can’t get good help these days.
One of the coolest and most talented authors I know is Samantha Dunn. I’m just bragging that I know her.
As I write this, we’re working on a project so Secret that even the Secret Group doesn’t know about it yet. Thank you Mick, Will, Connor, Rob, and Elliott. I’d pit you guys against SEAL Team Six any time. I mean, I’d bet on the SEAL Team, but I’d pit you against them.
Sometimes you have friends who are just there for you. They’re the type of people you can call for bail money at 3 AM and have them hang up on you. So thanks to Aaron Mendelsohn, Gary Goldstein, Ken Pisani, Mike Conley, Diane Driscoll, Susan Walter, Margaret Howell, Felicia Meyer and Mike Walker for being such good friends, and for forming the Committee To Make Fun of Ken Pisani.
Thank you Dennis Quaid for publicly declaring you want to be in all of my movies. It’s a deal.
Thank you Larissa Wohl for picking my novel, A Dog’s Perfect Christmas, as the very first novel in your world-wide book club. What an honor!
Thank you Tucker for keeping the pillows pinned to the couch.
Over the years I have worked with and donated to over 300 animal rescue charities. Two of the best are Best Friends Animal Society and Life is Better Rescue. Let’s Save Them All.
As I write this, 2020 draws near to an end, and the world is still in the grips of a great contagion. Many people are suffering from disease or the damage wrought by disease. Book stores struggle to survive, some schools are closed—hopefully, by the time you are reading this, we’ve emerged from the worst of the crisis, and our species is recovering in every sense of the word. My prayers are with all who have been affected.
When I was young, fourth grade, in fact, so I was probably sixteen years old, I declared that my life’s ambition was to be a novelist. As these acknowledgments imply, getting there was a journey that required many assisting hands. I’m thinking specifically of some of the authors who I admire who helped—Nelson DeMille, Andrew Gross, Lee Child, T. Jefferson Parker—but then my mind goes to friends from my whole life who have shown up for movie premieres and book signings and the rest, even though I have never gone up to their work to cheer them on, not even once. Pretty much if I know you, you’ve been a big help to me. My acknowledgments might not call you out by name, because if I did that this section would be as long as a phone book (they were these big printed books of names and phone numbers … oh, never mind) and I don’t think my publisher would let me do that. But know I feel blessed by all you’ve done for me. Next time we meet, I will buy you a PDF of a peanut butter sandwich.
And Mom, I know you’re reading this right now. You can rest. We’ll take it from here.
W. Bruce Cameron
Los Angeles, CA
Monday, November 23, 2020
By W. Bruce Cameron
A Dog’s Purpose
A Dog’s Journey
A Dog’s Promise
Emory’s Gift
The Dogs of Christmas
A Dog’s Perfect Christmas
The Dog Master
A Dog’s Way Home
A Dog’s Courage
THE RUDDY McCANN SERIES
The Midnight Plan of the Repo Man
Repo Madness
HUMOR
A Dad’s Purpose
8 Simple Rules for Dating My Teenage Daughter
8 Simple Rules for Marrying My Daughter
FOR YOUNGER READERS
Bailey’s Story
Bella’s Story
Cooper’s Story
Ellie’s Story
Lily’s Story
Max’s Story
Molly’s Story
Shelby’s Story
Toby’s Story
Lily to the Rescue
Lily to the Rescue: Two Little Piggies
Lily to the Rescue: The Not-So-Stinky Skunk
Lily to the Rescue: Dog Dog Goose
Lily to the Rescue: Lost Little Leopard
Lily to the Rescue: The Misfit Donkey
About the Author
W. BRUCE CAMERON is the #1 New York Times and #1 USA Today bestselling author of A Dog’s Purpose, A Dog’s Journey, A Dog’s Way Home (all now major motion pictures), A Dog’s Promise, A Dog’s Perfect Christmas, The Dog Master, Ellie’s Story, Bailey’s Story, Lily’s Story, The Midnight Plan of the Repo Man, and others. He lives in California. You can sign up for email updates here.
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Contents
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-one
Chapter Thirty-three
Chapter Thirty-four
Chapter Thirty-five
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Also by W. Bruce Cameron
About the Author
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
A DOG’S COURAGE: A DOG’S WAY HOME NOVEL
Copyright © 2021 by W. Bruce Cameron
All rights reserved.
Cover photographs: dog by Sara Shier Photography and background by Adam Zihla / Shutterstock.com
A Forge Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates
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New York, NY 10271
www.tor-forge.com
Forge® is a registered trademark of Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC.
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-1-250-25762-8 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-250-25763-5 (ebook)
eISBN 9781250257635
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First Edition: 2021