In a response letter, he is directed to a man named Remo, who lives in Paul's neighborhood and is in charge of the Cerberus Society, a group dedicated to canine communication. Unhappy with his lack of progress, Paul writes a letter to Wendell Hollis (now in prison) in hopes of getting ideas. Paul also remembers their wedding, and when he first learned of Lexy's depression, in the story she tells him about her adolescence. This is the first time Paul learns about the masks she used to make for a living, and they are featured prominently throughout the rest of the book. He recounts their week-long first date to Disney World, and to a wedding where Lexy delivered masks she made. Paul leaves his job at the college, and dedicates his time to this single cause.Īs he attempts to teach Lorelei, Paul remembers how he and Lexy first met, at a yard sale where he bought a square hard-boiled egg mold from her. He cites several past attempts as evidence he will be successful, especially the case of Dog J, who was surgically altered by Wendell Hollis, 'the Dog Butcher of Brooklyn', so that he could make human sounds. The only witness to her death is their dog Lorelei, and Paul goes on a crusade to teach Lorelei to speak, in order to clear up the mystery. The police declared it an accident, but Paul is bothered by the 'anomalies' he finds, such as signs of someone cooking steak, a rearrangement of the book shelf, and the question as to what his wife was doing in the apple tree in the first place. When he comes home he finds his wife, Alexandra 'Lexy' Ransome, dead, fallen from an apple tree. Paul Iverson called home to find a police officer answering the phone and suggesting him to come home. Like the builders in the story, Paul is hampered by the differences in communication between himself and Lorelei. The Dogs of Babel is an allusion to the Tower of Babel, the Biblical story that explains the existence of different languages. Throughout the book, Paul uncovers more about his wife's last day and remembers events through their life they led up to it.Įxplanation of the novel's title He is very troubled by this and therefore for the remainder of the book he is trying to teach the only witness of her death, his dog Lorelei, to speak. The book is narrated by Paul Iverson, a linguist who calls home one day to find out his wife is dead. The Dogs of Babel was the first book that Parkhurst wrote it was not the first novel that Parkhurst envisioned.

It was one of The New York Times Notable Fiction & Poetry books of 2003. The Dogs of Babel (also known as Lorelei's Secret in the UK) is the debut novel of Carolyn Parkhurst.

The dogs of babel by carolyn parkhurst