- April 19, 2024
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Jennifer Niland Wright, author of "The Grumbly Pug." Photo by Paige Wilson
Jennifer Wright signs a copy of "The Grumbly Pug" with Caden Fingerhug, 9, at her side. Photo by Paige Wilson
Zoë Crockett, 6, holds up her copy of "The Grumbly Pug." Photo by Paige Wilson
Jennifer Wright personalizes each of her book inscriptions. Photo by Paige Wilson
Jennifer Wright reads a passage from "The Grumbly Pug" with Caden Fingerhug, 9, at her side. Photo by Paige Wilson
A pug figurine sits on the signing table. Photo by Paige Wilson
It’s not every day that a book written from the eyes of a pug is published.
But after Palm Coast resident Jennifer Niland Wright lost her beloved first pug, Zoe, in 2013, she started journaling short stories about Zoe’s sweet and salty sides from Zoe’s own perspective. In honor of Zoe, “The Grumbly Pug” was published in May.
“I didn’t want to forget the stories,” Wright said to a crowd of about 40 local supporters, including Palm Coast Mayor Milissa Holland, at her book-signing party at the Grand Haven Village Center July 22.
After learning that Wright and her husband, Mike, couldn’t have children of their own, they decided to embrace a furry gang of misfits as their kids. Wright said her perfectly healthy pug Coley, who makes appearances in the book, died just five weeks after Zoe. She thinks Coley passed from a broken heart because she missed Zoe so much. Now, between Abby and Lily, her newer pugs; Holly, the cat; Jessie, the German Shepherd; and Franklin, the rabbit, the Wright house is filled with fluffy, four-legged love.
“I feel like animals give unconditional love,” Wright said. “That’s the purest form of love in the world.”
“(Wright’s) love of animals transcends anything.”
LAURA VAN WORMER, AUTHOR & COMPANY PUBLISHER
Wright spent 19 years writing for a health insurance company, but in 2014, she moved to Palm Coast from Meriden, Connecticut to write her book.
Here, she and Mike found the Fingerhug family, who became some of their closest friends in Palm Coast.
Caden Fingerhug, 9, didn’t leave Wright’s side at the book party. He took quite a liking to Wright’s pugs and said he even has the first copy of “The Grumbly Pug.”
“(Caden has) been one of my most ardent and vocal supporters in Palm Coast, so I think a lot of 9 year olds in Palm Coast are going to have copies,” Wright said with a laugh.
Wright said her pugs post every day on her professional Facebook page, which has more than 46,000 likes, and on her website. She said Abby is working on writing the next book, hopefully keeping the short-story format with colorful photos.
”I’m getting a great response from kids, and from parents and grandparents reading this to their kids,” Wright said. “I try to keep the book interesting for adults, but appropriate for children as well.”
Ultimately, Wright said the book is all about her animals and her life with them. Wright’s mother-in-law rescued and raised pugs for 40 years, making animal appreciation a family tradition.
“(Wright’s) love of animals transcends anything,” said Laura Van Wormer, Author & Company publisher. “It’s a process becoming a writer, and she’s gifted.”
