For some reason this book did not entertain me as much as I had anticipated. I was drawn to read it after reading glowing reviews that included a New England setting and the addition of ghostly residents who reside in the local cemetery. It was a “cute” story, rather silly at times, and sometimes a little too wordy. I am happy that other readers have enjoyed this book. It was just not a page turner for me.

I absolutely loved the author's debut novel Rabbit Cake, but I didn't particularly care for any of the characters in this book.

Special thanks to Random House Publishing, Ballantine and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

This book was really good with a quirky cast of characters. What a great cast of characters. This absolutely makes one of my favorite books of 2022. Its so good, I absolutely recommend it.

Emma, 22, moves back home from school. Emma was born with the gift of healing, that led her to go to medical school but as she grows older, her healing hands lose the ability to heal, so her family thinks she's still in medical school, and that's not quite where she was. She dropped out and is living in a commune. So she returns home to her ailing father who interacts with dead animals and a dead naturalist who lived with wild animals.

When Emma returns, she finds out her friend from school is missing, thought to be dead, and nobody is searching because she's just a "drug addict". Even though her father is sick, he refuses to stop searching for Emma's friend and of course Emma is involved in the search for her too. There is also Augie, Emma's brother, A recovering addict, and Emma's mother who is dealing with her job, Augur and her marriage.

I loved that this novel focuses on family, illness, opioid addiction, in feel it and other serious issues, its heartwarming and focuses on the important things in life. I loved it! I cant give anything else away. I loved it. 5 stars!

Annie Hartnett is officially one of my favorite authors. Like her novel Rabbit Cake, Unlikely Animals made me laugh and cry. I loved the magical realism running through this story with the voices from the cemetery and the ghost of Harold trying to influence events. Fun and touching. I'm still thinking about those quirky characters I came to know.

Emma returns to her home town to visit her family and is slowly sucked back in to dealing with her dad's dementia, her brother's attempt to get over his opioid addiction, and her mother trying to find herself. Oh, and the disappearance of her best friend. At the same time, Emma is struggling with her own inability to figure out what she wants. The story is relayed in a manner almost like you would read a child a bedtime story with fun little quirks and asides. Additionally, the folks buried in the town cemetery provide both commentary and a 3rd person plural Greek chorus to help narrate the story an provide background. I normally don't like 3rd person plural, but it is used sparingly and in this context it worked well. It would be easy to write this book off as some type of family saga but that would be an immense over simplification. There are so many plot lines through the entire town, connecting through the Starling family, that the book ends up being something not quite catagorizable. (Did I make up a word there?) Despite some of the heavy topics, this was an uplifting and humorous book that brought me constant smiles.

Emma was the golden child who supposedly had a unique ability. She leaves New England for Pomona College and then is accepted at UCLA Med School, except she never goes. Her family is a quirky set of characters. She eventually goes home, especially as her father is dying and having hallucinations. Once home, she finds out her former best friend is missing.

Quirky characters with a quirky plot line make this novel hard to follow. Too much quirkiness in one book.

Unlikely Animals is a magical, quirky story about Emma, a young woman with a special healing gift who returns to her hometown to help take care of her dying father. The story is told from the point of view of the dead residents of the town, who were buried in the local cemetery. While they can watch the events unfold, they can’t meddle in the lives of the living. But one of them doesn’t seem to care much about the rules - Ernest Harold Baynes, a naturalist who, when he was alive, let wild animals live in his house. He begins to haunt Emma’s father, and that’s the beginning of the fantastic journey that Emma and her father end up taking together.

Trying to summarize the plot of Unlikely Animals is not an easy task. It’s a character driven story, blending together magical realism and true historical events in a beautiful, charming way. The novel is centered on the themes of grief, death, but also family, forgiveness, and love. It’s both sad and uplifting, and the way Hartnett writes about heartbreaking events while keeping the atmosphere light and funny is truly spectacular. The characters were so lovable and peculiar that whenever I had to put the book down, I found myself missing them and wanting to return to reading. It’s an emotional read but the characters were so fun and wacky that I ended up laughing out loud numerous times. A perfect read for when you want some cheering up, but also a good cry.

TLDR: Unlikely Animals is a remarkable, delightful book about flawed people trying their best. It will break your heart and put it back together many, many times!

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ ½
Genre: Literary Fiction + Magical Realism

Emma Starling was a natural healer upon birth. This gift she had was the focus in Everton, the small town she grew up in. Everybody thought Emma was going to be something big. Many years later Emma returns back to her town after she dropped out of medical school. The main reason for Emma’s return is the health of her father, Clive Starling. The man is suffering from a mysterious brain disease that causes him to have hallucinations that involve small animals. Emma’s mother, Ingrid was hoping that her daughter’s healing ability will help to extend her husband’s life, unaware that her daughter had lost her gift.

Unlikely Animals is a good story that has so many things going for it. The characters are well written and well developed. The concept of the story is very intriguing. There are many subjects it tackles like illness, infidelity, substance addiction, etc. However, my main issue with it is that it felt too crowded for the length of the book. There are so many things going on at the same time, like the ghosts in the cemetery, the animals, hallucinations about Ernest Harold Baynes, and Crystal’s disappearance. There are just too many things and for such a length this will cause a few subjects to be less focused than others.

I liked the author’s writing style and the way she dealt with each member of the Starling family. This family was struggling in a big way with each member of it suffering from something, be it illness, uncertain future, or changes in life goals. I feel all this has enriched the story positively. I feel the story would have been better off without the animals. Maybe because I couldn’t understand the significance of their presence. I’m sure their presence was more symbolic and they represented particular things. Overall, the story was quite impactful. I liked it.

Many thanks to the publisher Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine and NetGalley for providing me with an advance reader copy of this book.

LOVED it!!!! I was so excited to read this book because I absolutely loved "Rabbit Cake." It definitely didn't disappoint. Everton, New Hampshire seems like a very interesting place to live. The ghosts and the residents are a lively bunch. What disease was Clive suffering from? He did hallucinate seeing all the animals and the long-dead naturalist, Ernest Harold Baynes. Although, I'm pretty sure he actually did see Baynes. You never knew what Clive would do, he was constantly full of surprises. The deer in the house, walking around naked, driving a motorcycle around with a dog and a fox in the sidecar, buying an $18,000 russian fox, just to name a few. Rasputin was cute even with the rooster debacle. From the moment Emma arrived back in town, I was hooked and couldn't wait to see what happened next. That was one interesting musical performance. The Starling family definitely had a strange dynamic. By the end of the book the family was stronger and they actually seemed like they loved each other. Loved the end of the book. It was definitely unexpected. I was sad to see the book end because I loved reading about the Starlings and their animals. I wanted to keep reading about their crazy adventures.

Definitely recommend the book. The book was full of surprises, from the mysterious disappearance of Crystal, Emma's questionable teaching skills and pretty much anything the Starling family did.
Loved the characters, story and writing style- everything about the book. Look forward to reading more books by the author.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This was a beautifully written story with many messages and I experienced many emotions while reading it. I loved the Maple Street Cemetery and the insight there.
Many thanks to Random House and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

The way the book brings in historical figures (Harold Baynes) is creative. Is he a ghost or is he a hallucination? The story follows Emma, who was born with a burden of being a healer. Since her parents don't want her to be a freak show, they discourage the use of her gift, but encourage her to go into the healing profession of physician. Emma is in her 20s and doesn't know who she is or what she wants besides dropping out of school. Her father, Clive, is dying and so she makes the pilgrimage home. There she finds her mother distracted, her recovering addict brother struggling, her town a victim of the opiod crisis and her childhood best friend missing. I would describe the book as quirky and if you are an animal lover, there is much in the way of anthropomorphism as the creatures we meet are attributed thoughts and actions much like many of the other characters. It was a fun, but not riveting read. I didn't truly connect with the characters, but it didn't ruin the book for me.

Unlikely Animals was an interesting family story. The prodigal daughter, dropped out of Med school and out of options returning to her hometown because her father was ill. Family means a lot of things to different people, and the disfunctional way that the Starling Family functions in their own way. The recovering addict son who starts to thrive, the mother who has given so much for her family, who was cheated on by her husband, and now her husband is dying while losing his mind to disease. So many moving parts to the story, including ghosts that narrate the lives of the living as well as a bit of history, a missing friend and a drug epidemic that affects all classes of people. The Starling Family goes through changes that help them grow while learning a little more about each other. Reccomend to anyone who likes to read tales of heartbreak, family, growth, and a bit of history. Thank you #NetGalley and #RandomHouse for the advanced readers copy.

I received an advance copy of this book via NetGalley.

<i>Unlikely Animals</i> is a bonkers book that somehow works. It is a tale of small town New Hampshire, narrated by the collective of the town's ghosts, who have interior insight into the minds and events in their small domain. It's also the story of a young woman who is a healer that cannot heal, of the complicated grief of losing a loved one to dementia, and of the devastating impact of opioid addiction on American towns. There is a fantastical element to the book, but it's also ardently literary in its storytelling.

I was bewildered by the book and its farcical vibe. More than once, I wondered if this was really the right read for me, but I pressed on. I'm glad I did. There were plot points I wanted to have answered, and the ending was quite satisfying. This is a read that will linger in my memory not only because it was so very weird, but also because it was filled with a lot of heart.

This is an original and insightful read. Emma and her family thought she was destined for great things. But after dropping out of medical school and struggling with her next steps, Emma is back in her hometown in New Hampshire, in part to help care for her ailing father, Clive. Clive has been having delusions, most often of small animals and of a long-dead member of their town who was famous for allowing wild animals live in his house. As Emma takes on more responsibilities for her father and begins to slowly develop more roots, she re-examines her relationships with her family, her old friends, her future, and the hometown hometown she never expected to live in again.

The book effectively combines historical fiction, magical realism, and a strong family narrative to create a unique book. Highly recommended!

This book was sweet, and funny, and sad, and heartwarming, and heartbreaking.

It follows the Starling family and the small town they live in. Emma returns home when she learns her father has a degenerative brain disorder and is hallucinating various things including the ghost of Ernest Harold Baynes. When she returns home she also learns that her childhood best friend has gone missing and her father is continuing to search for her.

The story is told from different perspectives including those of the ghosts living in the local cemetery. It follows the months after Emma returns as she resettles in the town and as she works to help care for her father. The family finds themselves in some wild situations stemming from Clive (father's) condition including caring for a fox and having a deer trapped in their home.

The town is also dealing with an opioid problem with many members falling into addiction and even two being arrested for distribution. This hit the Starling family at home with Emma's younger brother becoming addicted and finally becoming sober.


I really enjoyed this one. Despite all that happens in the town especially all the heartbreaking situations, it was such a warm story. I was rooting for the family to reconnect and thrive. I was rooting for Emma to become a good teacher and feel more settled. I was rooting for Auggie (younger brother) to get back on his feet. And I was rooting for Clive to find Emma's childhood friend.

I am not sure how I can fully explain what I liked about this book but I just did. I liked the characters and the story and how it was told. I will definitely be recommending.

[cw - drug use/addiction; death; hallucinations; kidnapping; depression]

What a complete delight from start to finish! This charming, quirky novel will make your heart smile and may even provoke a few laugh out loud moments. I can't thank Random House--Ballantine and Netgalley enough for the digital review copy.

Emma should be in med school right now, but instead she's driving home to Everton, New Hampshire. where her father is dying of a degenerative brain disease. Clive's illness causes him to hallucinate animals and ghosts, and he's got a special friend in the spirit of a naturalist who lived on his property in the 1920s. A Greek chorus of ghosts from the local cemetery offer commentary on what's going on. From their special prospective they are able to know what both people and animals are thinking and can try to gently influence them. It must be subtle because if a ghost is caught trying to manipulate one of the living's behavior, it's a big whoosh and they are gone forever.

Clive has become obsessed with the disappearance of a young woman who was Emma's best friend. Emma had healing hands, but the gift left her in her teen years. Crystal had no such gift but was really good at faking it. Emma sometimes thought her rowdy pal had picked up the gift she had lost. Emma's brother is battling with opioid addiction and her mom is still bitter after Clive cheated on her. Welcome home, Emmie!

There is so much heart in this book, so much aching to make things right, so many imaginary animals that your spirits will rise and bob happily above the page. Difficult subjects are covered with candor and compassion. "Unlikely Animals" is so, so good. What a treat awaits you.

Every once in a while, a book comes along that captivates my attention through the synopsis, and then delivers everything I had hoped in the story. That was this story for me. A touch of the unbelievable, a touch of drama, a touch of grief, a touch of regret, a touch of unrealized potential, a touch of humor, a touch of quirkiness, a touch of family dynamics, and most of all, a touch of community and watching out for one another.

I am a sucker for unique, quirky and heart-bending stories. I loved the overarching themes in this one of forgiveness, compassion, re-defining yourself, expectations, family, love and letting go.

The deceased residents of Maple Street Cemetery watch over the town of Everton, New Hampshire, but are not allowed to meddle. The reader knows that the person speaking is deceased by the way the author includes a date range in parenthesis next to their name. I just thought that was genius. The characters are witty and practical. The story focuses mostly on one family's story, the Starlings. Clive, the father and former college professor is beginning his battle against a degenerative brain disease. Ingrid is Clive's fourth and current wife and their children are Emma and Auggie.

Emma has come home after pretending to be away at medical school to spend time with her dying father. Auggie, her brother who she has had a somewhat distant relationship ship with is also home. Auggie has been in and out of rehab for a drug problem several times, and has been a source of stress for the family for some time. Emma's mother has dealt with the brunt of his care, and after the blow of Clive's extramarital affair, decides that it will be good for Emma and Auggie to step in to care for their father. Dysfunctional family dynamics? check. Emma's childhood friend, Crystal, was declared a missing person while Emma was away at "school." Now that she is back in town, she joins her father in his quest to find any information about her friend's mysterious disappearance.

There is so much more to this story and how the different stories intersect. Animals, both wild and domesticated are a large part of the town's history and of this story. There were so many funny moments and even with a dismal reason for Emma's return home, this family finds its way back to each other and the community finds its way back to celebrating each moment.

I loved, loved, loved this one. Thank you to NetGalley and Random House/Ballentine for the ARC to read and review. Pub date: 4.12.22

"That's why we like living with animals so much; they exhibit their joy so outwardly, and remind us how to be better alive."

Thank you for this ARC! This is the story of Emma, who comes home to help with her ailing father. It is a heartwarming story, although it can be a little strange at times. It is narrated by the deceased at a local cemetery. There is a pet fox. And, a part of the story I still can't really figure out, a ghost that shows up now and then. Overall, I enjoyed it, but I do wish more of the story focused on the family and less on the supernatural. I am curious to read this author's previous work.

In Unlikely Animals, Annie Hartnett weaves together an unlikely tapestry blending the foibles of a loving but fractured family, a missing person case, the opioid epidemic in northeastern U.S., and the ghost of a turn-of-the-20th-Century naturalist who shared his home with a variety of wild animals. Hilarity and sorrow blend here—as they often do in real life—and unexpected events are always on the horizon.

I don't want to say more about the plot because this is a book best read with a "clean slate." I can say that for anyone interested in family stories, end-of-life concerns, human-animal interactions, public schools, addiction, healing, and/or magical realism, this is a title that will work for you. Give yourself the gift of this wide-ranging, imaginative novel.

I received a free copy of this title for review purposes from the publisher via NetGalley; the opinions are my own.

Unlikely Animals by Annie Hartnett is a highly recommended family drama and ghost story.

In the small-town Everton, New Hampshire, the ghosts from Maple Street Cemetery recall the birth of Emma Starling. Emma was said to be a natural born healer. Now at 22 years-old she has foregone medical school in California and is returning home, her healing touch gone. Her mother, Ingrid, talked her into returning, although she really had nothing else to do, because her father, Clive, is dying from a mysterious brain disease. Clive is hallucinating small animals as well as the ghost of naturalist Ernest Harold Baynes. Her younger brother, Auggie, is recovering from an opioid addiction and Emma's best friend from high school, Crystal Nash is missing. Emma ends up becoming a long-term substitute teacher for fifth graders at the elementary school.

The Greek chorus of the ghosts from Maple Street Cemetery chime in throughout the novel with their thoughts, observations and opinions concerning what is going on with the living members of the community. This quirky, absurd family drama displays magic realism while being funny, but also tragic and quite serious concerning the opioid crisis befalling small towns everywhere. The themes of family expectations, forgiveness, and acceptance merge with the importance of friendships. And all of this is heralded in some way by the ghosts.

The plot does move along quickly, but the wildly divergent and numerous story lines could be a bit of a distraction. Naturalist Ernest Harold Baynes was a real person and his ghost shares parts of his life story in the novel. Hartnett has an author's note at the end explaining this and the incorporation of the information into her novel. The writing style was not especially to my taste, but there were several scenes that were exceptionally well crafted. Describing the novel as a fairy tale is apropos as it has elements of one. I noted and appreciated the growth in the characters by the conclusion. I'm a huge fan of all the animals populating the novel but not so much the ghosts.

Disclosure: My review copy was courtesy of Penguin Random House via NetGalley.
The review will be published on Barnes & Noble, Edelweiss, Google Books, and Amazon.