The Little Dog Laughed

Ennis Price, a bitter invalid, Sparky, a small dog with a big grudge and freakish psychic powers-these are the significant others in Regina Barbaria's joyless world. But the elderly schoolmarm's life changes when Ennis purchases a mobility scooter, a modern-day Tardis, a time-machine with the capability to restore youth for as long as the traveller remains in the past. One morning Reggie borrows the scooter while her partner is sleeping and ends up in 61AD. Sparky has never forgiven her for having him "fixed", and maroons her in Epping Forest on the eve of a battle between the armies of rebel queen, Boadicea and Roman general, Suetonius Paulinus. Fearing capture, Reggie - now a captivating young woman - disguises herself as a boy. Her ruse rebounds when she falls into the hands of an outlaw and is sold to General Paulinus-the most ruthless general in the whole of the Roman Empire. As Reggie fights her feelings for the notorious general, Ennis, now the prime suspect in her disappearance sets off to find her, with his reluctant little dog. Suspenseful, endearingly romantic and awash with social comedy, The Little Dog Laughed is a riotous tale of exuberant she-warriors, lustful legionnaires and delightful small animals with personalities all their own-close both to reality, and the secret world of our imaginations.