About Unsaid
Helena has died, but cannot move on. She is terrified of confronting the mistakes she made during her life as a veterinarian—terrified of meeting the souls of the hundreds of animals she’d euthanized, and terrified that her 37 years of life were meaningless, error-ridden, and forgettable. So Helena lingers, haunted by the life she left behind: David, her shattered attorney husband who, with Helena’s passing, has lost his one connection to a compassionate and heartfelt existence; her houseful of damaged but beloved animals, now bewildered without Helena’s presence; and her last project, Cindy, a chimpanzee who may hold the answers to the mysteries of human and animal consciousness and to Helena’s final release.
When Cindy is scheduled for a research experiment that will kill her, David suddenly must call upon everything he has learned from Helena to find a way to save Cindy. In the explosive trial that follows, Helena and David must confront their mistakes, grief, and loss— because the only way to save Cindy is to discover what it really means to be “human.”
Advance Praise
UNSAID is an extraordinary story of animals, afterlife, and the power of love. I found myself captivated by the world of this book. It will make you remember, rethink, and rejoice in every meaningful relationship you’ve ever had. Everyone needs to read this book!
–Garth Stein, author of the International Bestseller, The Art of Racing in the Rain
UNSAID will really make you think about the relationship between people and animals. I was not able to put it down, and I read parts of it twice.
—Dr. Temple Grandin, author of Animals in Translation and Animals Make Us Human
Neil Abramson has written a powerful and imaginative novel. His insights into the animal kingdom touched my heart. My book club will love it.
—Meredith Brokaw, creator and co-author of the Penny Whistle books and Big Sky Cooking
Enjoyed it thoroughly.
—Jeffrey Masson, author of When Elephants Weep
A poignant read on the meaning of life and its priorities—how death and despair can lead to renewal and life, but only if one realizes the interconnectedness of all creatures.
—Irene Pepperberg, author of Alex and Me
A remarkable book.
—Susan Wilson, author of One Good Dog and The Fortune Teller’s Daughter
A suspenseful, heart-throbbing novel exploring the big questions of life, death, sentience, animal rights, compassion, righteous indignation, and what it is all about and why. The surprise twists are like an emotional roller coaster. Read it, weep, grab your chair, and gain insights into the big why!
—Allen Schoen, DVM, author of Kindred Spirits
UNSAID says it all in a lyrical story about humanity’s journey from betrayal to reconciliation with our animal kin. A beautiful, wrenching testimony.
—G.A. Bradshaw, director & founder, The Kerulos Center, and author of Elephants on the Edge
A remarkable book, uncanny in that its narrator is recently deceased, but vivid in its development of believable and complex characters, both human and nonhuman.
—Susan J. Armstrong, Professor Emerita Humboldt State University and co-editor, The Animal Ethics Reader