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Because of a Dog
  • Published: 20 October 2026
  • ISBN: 9781464270178
  • Imprint: Sourcebooks
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 320
  • RRP: $32.99

Because of a Dog

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For readers of From Scratch and Marley and Me: After losing his beloved dog and nearly everything else, one man’s accidental arrival in a remote Italian village leads to unexpected friendship, healing, and a new definition of home

One dog's love. One man's journey.

When Matthew Sigman's beloved dog, Augie, died, his world fell apart. His boyfriend broke up with him. His work dried up. Even the ceiling of his West Village apartment collapsed. Heartbroken and adrift, Matthew did the only thing he could—he ran.

An impulsive escape to Europe didn't lead to the cafés of Paris or the islands of Greece. Instead, thanks to a fluke in an Airbnb map, he landed in Quarna, a remote Italian mountain village seemingly hidden from tourists—and from time itself. There, amid winding cobblestone streets and alpine silence, Matthew stumbled into an unlikely friendship and madcap adventures with an exuberant innkeeper, Valerio, and discovered the warmth of a community that welcomed him as one of their own.

In Because of a Dog, Matthew traces a journey from profound grief to unexpected renewal, from isolation to connection. With wit, poignancy, and hard-won insight, this memoir is a reminder that sometimes, when all seems lost, it takes a village to mend a broken heart.
  • Published: 20 October 2026
  • ISBN: 9781464270178
  • Imprint: Sourcebooks
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 320
  • RRP: $32.99
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About the author

Matthew Sigman

MATTHEW SIGMAN is an award-winning writer and editor for the performing arts. A three-time winner of the ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for Music Journalism, he has contributed features, interviews, criticism, and commentary to Symphony, Opera News, American Theatre, Chorus America, Classical Music, and National Public Radio’s Performance Today. Born and raised in Toledo, Ohio, he received his bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University and an MBA from The Wharton School. He lives with his partner in New York City and frequently visits Quarna.
MS

Praise for Because of a Dog

Matthew Sigman has created something special in these pages: an inviting space where anyone who has ever grieved the loss of deep love—and isn’t that all of us?—can gather to bathe in the healing waters of shared human experience. I found myself rereading entire passages for the sheer elegance of the writing and its ability to transport me to places my heart had not visited in a very long time. Sigman has that rare gift of storytelling that invites the reader along on the adventure, not as observer but participant.

John Grogan, author of Marley & Me

Because of a Dog had me laughing out loud in one line and unexpectedly reaching for the tissue box and browsing flights to small Italian towns in the next. It’s a rare blend of wit and poignancy that will deeply move anyone who has ever loved a dog.

Christina Hunger, New York Times bestselling author of How Stella Learned to Talk