'Minnow' a heart-warming dog tale with lovely illustrations gets published
“Minnow” by Veronica Arthur, a heart-warming dog tale with lovely illustrations is now available for readers. The book has been published by Grosvenor House Publishing, a professional publishing company in the UK.
A puppy, Minnow, remembers his life born in a tenement in a high-rise block of flats. He is befriended by an old lame dog, Rufus, a wise campaigner who introduces his young companion to city life and daring escapades for morsels and nourishment. During a fearful chase the two dogs are parted: both are transported separately to a Home for Strays, a business operation run by money grabbing, untrustworthy individuals. Minnow, an attractive puppy, is purchased for the daughter of a wicked witch like woman, Mrs. Cowper. The spoilt child soon tires of her new pet and her mother, who rules the family, takes a strong dislike to the now, unpopular puppy.
Next, Minnow's hunting instinct encourages him to chase a dog fox into woods. He finds himself, with fear and pain, wedged deep in an underground tunnel. After days of starvation in a near skeletal state, the puppy manages to crawl to freedom. Weak and disorientated, he falls into the hands of two jovial poachers. The illegal hunters give the puppy succour, but the following day Minnow's comfort ends when the young dog is returned to his unscrupulous former owner whose brow beaten husband had advertised a reward for the puppy’s return.
Following a frightful argument, a monetary transaction takes place and at once the rejected puppy’s life is in jeopardy as Mrs. Cowper recklessly drives him to wasteland, and cruelly, she leaves him to die in freezing winter conditions. Minnow discovers a gypsy settlement and adapts to a life on the road. More characters and canine companions enter his life. At a fair, panic and turmoil erupt when a fire ravages his wagon abode, and for the young dog, a new home is found. Minnow’s story finally ends in happy surroundings, and it is here where Minnow relates his life filled with awesome adventures, and at times, in atrocious conditions.
Veronica Arthur was brought up in Ireland where most of her education was carried out at a day school in Dublin, enabling her to be immersed in her love of outdoor life. She taught her favourite terrier to jump through her arms and, as well as her devotion to her parents’ dogs, ponies were a large part of her life.
Later in life, she moved to Bingfield, near Hexham, which became home and the menagerie of animals began to grow and their stories began to collect. As a mother of two and grandmother of five, Veronica has spent many an hour entertaining youngsters with bedtime stories; the most popular always those that shared the secret side to the animals they all knew and loved; stories created and expanded by Veronica.
Minnow is one such story, gently dotted with stories of Rufus, that old wise lame ginger dog, and Cream Bun, the Romany pony.
