From the time she is nine years old and discovers a "Private Way" full of the wonderful and creepy creatures of the wild—spiders, deer, moles, chipmunks, and foxes—Lauren Slater discovers in animals a refuge from the troubled life of her suburban home. As she matures, her bond with animals—raccoons, horses, swans, cats and, above all, dogs—strengthens and grows more complex and compelling. They offer relief from the pain of her mother's mental illness, from a foster family where she feels not at all at home, from her own periodic bouts with depression. As a psychologist, a reporter, an amateur naturalist and above all an enormously gifted writer, she draws us into the stories of her love for the animals that are so much more than pets.