Don’t look for a happy ending, but be entertained along the way. But Prince soon finds himself out of his depth as he tries to head off adultery and drugs overdoses. On the face of it, Prince’s family, the Hunters, seems promising - faithful Adam, obsessively neat Katie, teenagers Hal and Charlotte. This pact, narrator Prince tells us, includes rules like “Duty over all” and “Learn from your elders”, and any lab who fails in his duty might as well hang up his lead - or join the rebel springer spaniels, whose slogan is “Dogs for Dogs, not for Humans”. The set-up is this: everywhere today the nuclear family is under threat from the pressures of modern life but labradors, symbol of English family stability, have made a pact to turn the tide. This novel is all about dogs, but abandon hope all ye who were raised on 101 Dalmatians, for this canine dystopia is as black as its labrador narrator. The Last Family in England, by Matt Haig (Jonathan Cape, £10.99)
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