The Last Shepherd’s Dog

Author(s): John Sunderland

Location(s): Tàrbena

Genre(s): Autobiography/Memoirs

Era(s): Contemporary

A Yorkshire museum designer. An American café owner from New York City. A tiny mountain village in Spain.

When John Sunderland and his wife, Kathy, left New York City to begin a new chapter of their lives in Tàrbena, they expected little more than sunshine and a slower pace of life. Instead, they found themselves gradually welcomed into a close-knit community whose traditions, humour and way of life were quietly changing with the passing of time.

Their lives took an unexpected turn when they adopted Pascual, an eight-year-old retired shepherd’s dog. Through him, they came to appreciate the rhythms of village life and the enduring values of kindness, generosity and neighbourliness that transcend differences of language, nationality and culture.

Illustrated throughout with John’s own drawings, The Last Shepherd’s Dog is a warm, humorous memoir about finding home in an unfamiliar place and discovering that true belonging is earned not by nationality, but by the people who welcome us and the place we choose to embrace. More than the story of one remarkable dog, it is an affectionate portrait of rural Spain and of a community whose spirit leaves a lasting mark on everyone who experiences it.

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