In this moving, revelatory literary novel, a young writer finds himself unable to open up to the possibility of love -- except through the companionship of his aging dachshund Lily. But with the unexpected arrival of a small octopus that affixes itself, unrelenting, to Lily's head, it soon becomes clear this invader is strangling the life from his dog and threatening the bond between man and his one true friend.

With transportive spins into magic realism at sea and beautifully evoked universal truths of loss and longing on land, a hilariously sardonic and not altogether reliable narrator, and one unforgettable hound whose simple passions and inspiring wisdom will break your heart and put it back together again, Lily and the Octopus captures the singular search for meaning in the face of death and introduces a dazzling new voice in fiction.