“Some dogs, like some people, just can’t abide a quiet life,” writes Hal Borland, author of The Dog Who Came to Stay, in this warm and touching memoir.

Penny the basset shows up at the Borlands’ Connecticut farmhouse on a cold, snowy day—head held high, tail wagging, as if she were a long-awaited guest. Hal and Barbara Borland were no strangers to strays. Pat, the rabbit hound thousands of readers came to know in The Dog Who Came to Stay, had also appeared one winter, staying to become the family’s dear companion. Now, Pat is gone, and Hal and Barbara are bereft without canine company. They fall in love with Penny—and she seems to fit right in.

Penny is a delightful dog—short-legged, flop-eared, full of fun and curiosity. And she loves people, so much so that she leaves the Borlands to go visiting elsewhere, often settling in with a different family for days on end. Indeed, Hal and Barbara admire her for her spirit of individuality and independence.

Though she never truly belonged to them, the Borlands agreed that Penny was a dog well worth loving—and so will readers.