Clare Clark’s dark historical novel THE NATURE OF MONSTERS and Ted Kerasote’s touching memoir MERLE’S DOOR: LESSONS FROM A FREETHINKING DOG were included in The Globe and Mail’s top 100 list of books for 2007 at the weekend!

Here’s what they said about THE NATURE OF MONSTERS:

Scientific and medical theories can survive for several decades past their refutation. The author of The Great Stink, set in Victorian London, now turns to the 1700s to illustrate the persistence of fallacies, in novel about an ambitious apothecary who tries to experiment on two maids in his household. The book is a fascinating blend of history, horror and humour.

And, about MERLE’S DOOR:

Merle’s Door is a thoroughly researched, philosophical, sentimental and sometimes breathtaking book, and an adventure from beginning to end. Kerasote is engaging and enlightening, and Merle is certainly a likeable character. His master’s anthropological and sociological observations are challenging, and his love for Merle undeniable. When Merle dies, Kerasote is inconsolable, and the ending is a work of art. Anyone - dog lover or not - will be deeply moved by the book’s last few lines.

Both THE NATURE OF MONSTERS and MERLE’S DOOR are published by Harcourt in the U.S., and they have very kindly set up mini-sites for both books:

Click here for THE NATURE OF MONSTERS mini-site

Click here for the MERLE’S DOOR mini-site