Your cart is empty

©2025 Fable Group Inc.
3.5 

The Boy and the Dog

By Seishu Hase & Alison Watts
The Boy and the Dog by Seishu Hase & Alison Watts digital book - Fable

Publisher Description

“An amazing, beautiful book . . . It shows how one dog’s dignified presence can bring connection and love to a fractured world.” ―Cat Warren, New York Times bestselling author of What the Dog Knows

One dog changes the life of everyone who takes him in on his journey to reunite with his first owner in this inspiring novel about the bond between humans and dogs and the life-affirming power of connection.


Dogs had a special relationship to humans. . . . They understood the human heart and were attuned to it in a way no other creature was.

Following a devastating earthquake and tsunami, a young man in Japan finds a stray dog outside a convenience store. The dog’s tag says “Tamon,” a name evocative of the guardian deity of the north. The man decides to keep Tamon, becoming the first in a series of owners on the dog’s five-year journey to find his beloved first owner, Hikaru, a boy who has not spoken since the tsunami. An agent of fate, Tamon is a gift to everyone who welcomes him into their life.

At once heartrending and heartwarming, intimate and panoramic, suspenseful and luminous--and deepened in its emotion by the author’s mastery of the gritty details and hardscrabble circumstances that define the lives of the various people who take Tamon in on his journey--this bestselling, award-winning novel weaves a feel-good tale of survival, resilience, and love beyond measure.

Download the free Fable app

app book lists

Stay organized

Keep track of what you’re reading, what you’ve finished, and what’s next.
app book recommendations

Build a better TBR

Swipe, skip, and save with our smart list-building tool
app book reviews

Rate and review

Share your take with other readers with half stars, emojis, and tags
app comments

Curate your feed

Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communities
app book lists

Stay organized

Keep track of what you’re reading, what you’ve finished, and what’s next.
app book recommendations

Build a better TBR

Swipe, skip, and save with our smart list-building tool
app book reviews

Rate and review

Share your take with other readers with half stars, emojis, and tags
app comments

Curate your feed

Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communities

The Boy and the Dog Reviews

3.5
“A beautiful story about a dog’s journey after tragedy and the people he healed along the way. This book made me smile and cry, and reminded me of what a gift my own dog is.”
“If you enjoy a bunch of short stories that connect, then you will likely like this book. This was both negative and positive at the same time, a whirlwind of emotions. This book was recommended to me by a friend and I know I’ll remember this storyline forever, very memorable.”

About Seishu Hase

Seishu Hase has published many bestselling novels in his native Japan, a number of which have been adapted for film. He has been nominated six times for the Naoki Prize, awarded biannually to the best work of popular fiction, and finally won it for The Boy and the Dog, which has sold a quarter of a million copies in Japan and is being adapted for film and published around the world. 

Alison Watts is the translator of the novels What You Are Looking For Is in the Library by Michiko Aoyama, Sweet Bean Paste by Durian Sukegawa, Spark by Naoki Matayoshi, and The Aosawa Murders and Fish Swimming in Dappled Sunlight by Riku Onda. She is a longtime resident of Japan.

Start a Book Club

Start a public or private book club with this book on the Fable app today!

FAQ

Do I have to buy the ebook to participate in a book club?

Why can’t I buy the ebook on the app?

How is Fable’s reader different from Kindle?

Do you sell physical books too?

Are book clubs free to join on Fable?

How do I start a book club with this book on Fable?

Notification Icon
©2025 Fable Group Inc.
Fable uses the TMDB API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDB