cover image A Dog Named Beautiful: A Marine, a Dog and a Long Road Trip Home

A Dog Named Beautiful: A Marine, a Dog and a Long Road Trip Home

Rob Kugler. Flatiron, $26.99 (304p) ISBN 978-1-250-16425-4

In this emotionally wrought memoir, marine veteran Kugler writes of his eight-year-old chocolate Lab Bella, who was diagnosed with bone cancer and and helped Kugler through a difficult time in his life. After a deployment to Iraq in 2008, Kugler was forced to retire for medical reasons. Back home in Broken Bow, Nebr., he battled depression and contemplated suicide, yet Bella was his rock: “She is my one constant. She loves me unconditionally.” After Bella was diagnosed with cancer in 2015 and had her left front leg amputated, the two set out on a trek across America. “She’s helping me find something I so desperately need,” Kugler writes. Through flashbacks, Kugler recounts a poor but loving childhood, and stories of his brother, Mike, who was killed while they were both serving in Iraq. As Kugler and Bella travel, Bella’s unassailable enthusiasm inspires Kugler to cope with his depression while she instills passion in those they meet. “She’s spreading happiness and inspiration.... This dog with three legs and terminal cancer still loves life,” he writes. Bella lives months beyond what doctors thought (“These adventures are keeping her alive,” says her vet), and it is through Bella that Kugler meets a woman and forms a relationship that lasts after Bella’s death. Kugler’s heartfelt and uplifting story reveals the transformative power pets can have. (May)