Historical novel shares story of canine’s conversion

Reviewed by John F. Fink

“When [the massive dog] touched Jesus with his broad wet nose, Jesus laughed and taking him behind both ears pulled him closer. Then Jesus scratched his ears and under his massive chin. Finally, Jesus put his arms around Daemon and held him tight.”
—An excerpt from No Pulling Back (Tale of a Fighter Dog)
 

The four Evangelists apparently weren’t dog lovers because that quotation isn’t in any of the Gospels. They fail to report that Jesus even had a dog.

Fear not. Ruth Ann Hanley has inserted that thought into her book of historical fiction titled No Pulling Back (Tale of a Fighter Dog).

And Daemon was not just any dog; he had been the fiercest fighter dog in the Roman amphitheater, a favorite of the screaming, blood-thirsty crowd. He knew how to stalk animals and humans and eventually kill them.

Daemon was one bad, mean dog. One day, though, he turned against his handlers, who then intended to kill him. He was saved by a Roman soldier named Taurus, as mean as the dog. Taurus was about to be stationed in a country of conquered people, and he took Daemon with him, training him to kill on command.

After arriving in that land, one morning Taurus and Daemon met a fisherman with his catch. Taurus asked him to give him the largest fish. When the fisherman replied that the fish was for his wife, Taurus said to Daemon, “Kill.” He did.

But Taurus liked to drink fermented grape juice, which made him drunk. Once while in that condition, he and Daemon were in a boat during a storm when the boat overturned. Taurus drowned. Daemon survived and was free. He had to kill for food.

On one occasion, he saw a large cat about to pounce on a human. He caught the cat by the throat and killed it. He had saved the life of a man named John. Daemon began to stay near the man’s cave, although he was forbidden to enter it. While he was there, John was not bothered by wild animals. John fed him.

Daemon saw men visit John in the cave and, during the day, watched as John went to a river where he spoke to large crowds. He pushed people under the water, and they were happy about it.

Then one day, a man came who exuded authority. When John pushed him under the water, the sky split and threw jagged beams of light on the crowd. A heavy voice from a person Daemon couldn’t smell said something, and a bird hovered over the head of the man, who was called Jesus. Daemon wanted to catch the bird, but he couldn’t move.

Soon after, some men came and took John away. When he knew John wasn’t coming back, Daemon followed the scent of the man Jesus and found him a long way away. He became subservient to him, something that he had never expected to do to any man. Jesus changed his name to Solamen because, he said, “Holding you and rubbing your warm body comforts and consoles me.”

I’m not going to tell you much more about the story, except that Solamen also became a friend of Jesus’ mother and that Solamen followed Jesus and his pack, carefully staying out of sight. He approached Jesus only when he was alone, when he went to pray on a mountain. Only once did Jesus introduce him to Jesus’ pack members, in order to teach them a lesson.

Solamen was not present when men came to arrest him, but you’ll have to read the book to learn why. After Jesus’ death, he stayed for a time with Jesus’ mother and another man named John. Again you’ll have to read the book to learn what happened.

Hanley, a photojournalist who also worked for The Criterion in the 1980s and is a member of Christ the King Parish in Indianapolis, is a recently retired attorney. She lives in Indianapolis with her husband, Ed, and their therapy dog, Pepper.

A member of the Catholic Writers’ Guild, Hanley obviously is also a dog lover, even if the Evangelists were not.

She has written a gripping story of the conversion of a canine St. Augustine that keeps your interest from start to finish.
 

(John F. Fink is editor emeritus of The Criterion. No Pulling Back (Tale of a Fighter Dog) is available from both Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Amazon is selling the printed paperback for $13.46, and a Kindle edition for $4.95. Barnes and Noble’s prices are $13.63 for the printed edition and $4.70 for a Nook Book. The book is also available at the Celtic Cross Catholic Gift Shop, 1512 W. 86th St., Indianapolis; The Village Dove, 6935 Lake Plaza Drive, Suite B3, Indianapolis; and Holy Family Books and Gifts, 1327 S. Range Line Rd., Carmel. For more information, go to www.hanleyra.com.) †