For Will Watson, it was time for a change. Life in England had gone sour for him, so he and his Golden Retriever Mia headed to the other side of the world — to a small Australian mountain town called Maleny. There, Will tries to navigate through the surprising and sometimes sinister ways of his adopted community while trying to make a living.

As he strives to feel at home in Australia, Will is faced with a long list of challenges that are at odds with the easy life he’d been led to believe was the norm down under. But the biggest surprise is in Mia’s connection to this land, to its denizens, and to the environment around her, through which she forges a stunning new purpose. What happens with Mia will change all of those around her, but none more than the man — her dearest friend — who needed to change the most.A story of transformation, dedication, and secrets hidden just beyond our sight, GOLDEN is a profound, moving, funny, and consistently surprising tale.

Will Watson desperately needs a life reset after he loses his job as a Yorkshire park ranger and Heidi, his girlfriend of seven years, dumps him. When he wins a trip to a music festival on Australia’s Sunshine Coast, he makes the snap decision to leave the U.K. and relocate there. The change of location means rebirth into a better version of himself, right? Well, not exactly.

Instead of a Crocodile Dundee version of the land Down Under, where people are amiable, happy eccentrics, the Aussies Will meets in his chosen destination, Maleny, are grumpy, unfriendly, and resentful of transplanted Brits like him. Ben Flinders, president of the village association, is the most obnoxious of them all. Furthermore, as his funds dwindle, Will discovers that finding employment in Maleny is next to impossible. The only job he can land is as a “trash dasher,” a junk collector. His main solace comes from his golden retriever, Mia.

When the local veterinarian diagnoses Mia with an aggressive, incurable form of cancer, Will seeks out Miranda Minsky, a woman who claims the ability to communicate with dead pets. Although Mia isn’t dead, Miranda connects with her, and with the help of some pet ghosts, the dog learns to spell words from letters drawn in the sand. Mia warns Will about skulduggery involving Ben Flinders and the village association, which leads to an unexpected and somewhat comical climax.

I liked Golden, although the idea that a dog can communicate with a human by spelling words is not easy to accept. However, accepting that premise is essential to moving the story along, and after a while, it starts to be more believable. Relating to the story’s main villains as real people is also problematic. Ben Flinders, in particular, comes off as a one-dimensional caricature. Yet neither of these seriously detracts from the reader’s ability to enjoy the book.

While I’ve liked other books better, Golden is a pleasant and entertaining read.

S.S. Turner crafts thought-provoking stories that explore the profound transformations his characters must undergo to navigate the complexities of modern life. His works are celebrated for their vivid storytelling, and the way his characters intertwine universal themes with personal growth. The author of Secrets of a River Swimmer, The Connection Game, Golden, and The Last Toll Collector, he captivates readers with tales that resonate in today’s fast-paced, ever-evolving world.