The Hitch

By: Sara Levine

Narrated by: Lisa Flanagan

“A wonderful storyteller with a vibrant voice.” —The New York Times

From the author of the cult classic Treasure Island!!!, a delightfully unhinged comedy following a woman as she attempts to exorcise the spirit of a dead corgi from her nephew and renegotiate the borders of her previously rational world.

Sara Levine debuted with her outrageously original and unforgettable novel Treasure Island!!!, which became a cult classic and bookseller favorite. With the ferocious absurdity of Rachel Yoder’s Nightbitch and the inventive comedy of Kevin Wilson’s Nothing to See Here, Levine’s highly anticipated second novel, The Hitch, follows a woman as she attempts to exorcise the spirit of a dead corgi from her nephew and renegotiate the borders of her previously rational world.

As an antiracist, secular Jewish feminist eco-warrior, Rose Cutler is convinced she knows the right way to do everything, including parent her six-year-old nephew Nathan. When his parents reluctantly agree to let Rose babysit him while they go on a vacation designed to save their marriage, she is determined to follow their rules and not overstep. But on her first day with Nathan, Rose’s beloved Newfoundland attacks and kills a corgi at the park and Nathan starts acting strangely: barking, overeating, talking to himself. Rose believes this is how Nathan’s child imagination is coping with the dog’s death, but Nathan insists the dog isn’t dead; her soul leaped into his body, and now she’s living inside him. With only a week left before his parents return, Rose races to ban­ish the corgi from her nephew.

An off-kilter comedy about loneliness, bad boundaries, and the exacting nature of unconditional love, The Hitch is a big-hearted novel that exposes the fault lines of our pieties and asks how far a person should stretch to fit into their own family.

Critic reviews

"Levine’s newest novel follows know-it-all Rose, who convinces her brother to allow her to babysit her 6-year-old nephew, Nathan, while he’s away on vacation. Rose has high expectations for her week with Nathan until a tragic incident at the park somehow transfers the soul of a corgi named Hazel into Nathan’s body. Rose scrambles to release Hazel from Nathan’s body before his parents return. Lisa Flanagan perfectly embodies Rose, highlighting her haughtiness and impatience but also clearly expressing how Rose’s eccentricities and constant unsolicited advice hide her insecurities and loneliness. Flanagan’s portrayal of Nathan is spot-on as the charming child grows attached to Hazel even while he’s confused by his aunt’s actions."

"Offbeat and honest, this is literary fiction at its best."

Could Have Been Fun

The middle of the story is best, for the nephew and two dogs come to ‘life’ and create chaos.. The rest is wordy, very wordy, and the ending is sad. I was hoping for at least a happy ending to redeem this book. Recipes strangely pop up here and there. Why insist upon telling about the life of a woman who is driving herself and everyone else nuts. I felt sorry for her, but I wanted more of the sweet nephew and the dogs,

The point?

The story was all over the place. The moments of humor could not save it.