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Three Bags Full, by Leonie Swann, is a murder mystery, but mostly it's a novel about sheep, and from the viewpoint of sheep.
The sheep are un-sheep-like in their intelligence, and their understanding of human language. They seem very sheeplike in a lot of other ways, like the importance of scent and of the flock.
The book begins with a list of "Dramatis Oves," which I found occasionally useful for reference: there are descriptions like "the wooliest sheep in the flock" and "the second most silent sheep in the flock; nobody minds that." The flock in question live in Ireland, and their shepherd has just been killed. They want to know what is going to happen to them now, and they want to who killed him, and they want justice, though they're not really clear on what the word means.
The sheep know more about murder investigations than most sheep, because at one point their shepherd read them part of a mystery novel, before giving up and going back to their usual diet of formulaic romances, but half a mystery novel really isn't much to go on, especially for beings who don't understand a lot of human motivations.
The story manages to be sweet without being twee, because what the sheep want is the sort of thing I can believe sheep want: mostly, to graze in safety, with the other sheep in their flock. They also get answers to at least some of their questions, and seem satisfied at the end, even if many of the humans aren't.
I don't remember who recommended this, but thank you. (There's a cover blurb from Carl Hiaasen; I've read a few of his books, and the style of this is very different.)
The sheep are un-sheep-like in their intelligence, and their understanding of human language. They seem very sheeplike in a lot of other ways, like the importance of scent and of the flock.
The book begins with a list of "Dramatis Oves," which I found occasionally useful for reference: there are descriptions like "the wooliest sheep in the flock" and "the second most silent sheep in the flock; nobody minds that." The flock in question live in Ireland, and their shepherd has just been killed. They want to know what is going to happen to them now, and they want to who killed him, and they want justice, though they're not really clear on what the word means.
The sheep know more about murder investigations than most sheep, because at one point their shepherd read them part of a mystery novel, before giving up and going back to their usual diet of formulaic romances, but half a mystery novel really isn't much to go on, especially for beings who don't understand a lot of human motivations.
The story manages to be sweet without being twee, because what the sheep want is the sort of thing I can believe sheep want: mostly, to graze in safety, with the other sheep in their flock. They also get answers to at least some of their questions, and seem satisfied at the end, even if many of the humans aren't.
I don't remember who recommended this, but thank you. (There's a cover blurb from Carl Hiaasen; I've read a few of his books, and the style of this is very different.)
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