Nop's Hope — Donald McCaig

A young widow travels the competition circuit with her border collie in this novel by the author of Nop’s Trials, “a great writer” (James Herriot). After her husband and daughter are killed in a car accident, Penny Burkeholder leaves her Shenandoah Valley home with her eighteen-month-old border collie, Hope, the only friend she has left in the world. Together, they make their way across the country in a battered pickup, earning money by doing ranch work and competing in sheepdog trials. One dream keeps the grieving young widow going: to compete at the national finals in Wyoming and turn Hope into a winner.   Filled with fascinating detail about sheepdog trials and the uncanny closeness that develops between canine and human team members, Nop’s Hope evokes the quiet beauty of the back roads and ranches of the American West and brings to life unforgettable characters, both human and canine, including Hope’s sire, Nop.