Nose Down, Eyes Up: A Novel

At forty-seven, Gil is the world's oldest twenty-two-year-old man. He lives rent-free as a handyman in the L.A. summer house of a couple of rich retirees who only come out for vacations. Gruff, shrewdly observant, but perplexed and beleaguered by women since his nasty divorce, Gil has been dating Sara, an animal communicator, long enough to converse freely with all four of his dogs (especially Jimmy, the alpha). When Jimmy learns Gil isn't his biological father, he demands to meet his birth mother, a dog owned by Gil's sexy ex-wife, Eden, now remarried to a much wealthier man. Then Gil's employers take their vacation, forcing him to relocate and setting in motion an odyssey that ultimately shines a light on the root of Gil's problems with women and adulthood by forcing him to move in with his mother.

Filled with the sharp social and sexual insight-and an uncanny understanding of the thought processes of dogs-that have become Merrill Markoe's trademarks, Nose Down, Eyes Up is a howlingly funny story of love, sex, and the meaning of family.