Author(s): Matt Haig

General

Meet the Hunter family: Adam, a teacher, his wife Kate, and their children Hal, seventeen, and Charlotte, thirteen. And Prince, their black Labrador. It's Prince who is the narrator and protagonist of this tale. An earnest young dog, he strives hard to live up to the tenets of the Labrador Pact. (Labradors believe in 'Duty Over All', that duty being to remain loyal to their human masters, to serve and protect their Family at any cost. Other dogs, led by the Springer Spaniels, have revolted. Their slogans are 'Dogs for Dogs, not for Humans' and 'Pleasure not Duty'.) Mentored by an elderly Labrador called Henry, whom he meets each day in the park, Prince takes his responsibilities seriously, and as things in the Hunter family begin to go badly awry, his responsibilities threaten to overwhelm him. It all starts when a new couple move into the big house overlooking the park. Soon Adam is besotted with Emily, the beautiful aromatherapist, while her husband Simon seems to have played a significant part in Kate's past... Hal is tripping on acid and the house is invaded by his rowdy friends for a party; Charlotte's fallen out with Adam over her new boyfriend and tries to end it all with an overdose. And down in the park it's even worse: Henry has disappeared; Emily's dog Falstaff wants to lead Prince astray; has the terrifying Rottweiler Lear killed Joyce, the Irish wolfhound? In the end Prince is forced to break the Labrador Pact and take desperate action to save his Family. The Last Family in England is funny, sad, quirky, original and - incidentally - a brilliant reworking of Henry IV Part II.