Meet the Hunters: Adam, a teacher, his wife Kate, and their
teenage children Hal and Charlotte. But it is Prince, the
family’s black Labrador, who is the narrator and protagonist
of this tale.
An earnest young dog, Prince strives
hard to live up to the tenets of the Labrador Pact: “Duty
Over All” — that duty being 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.”) Prince takes his
responsibilities seriously, but as things begin to go awry
in the Hunter family, they threaten to overwhelm him. It all
starts when a new couple moves into the house overlooking
the park. Soon Adam is besotted with Emily, while her
husband Simon seems to have played a significant part in
Kate’s past. Young Hal is tripping on acid with his rowdy
friends, while Charlotte is having boyfriend problems and
tries to end it all with an overdose. And down in the park,
it’s even worse: Henry the elderly Lab has disappeared;
Emily’s dog Falstaff wants to lead Prince astray; has Lear
the Rottweiler 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 and —
incidentally — a clever reworking of Henry IV Part II.
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