The Dog From Monticello: The Lost History of Albemarle Courthouse (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798904520977)

The Dog from Monticello is an upmarket historical novella narrated by Millau, a nine-month-old Briard puppy from Jefferson's own breeding line. Smitten with James Dinsmore, Jefferson's master carpenter, Millau makes him her person and follows him into a story that history forgot to write down.

Millau is the perfect witness. She moves through parlors, workshops, courthouse rooms, fields, wagons, and whispered conversations with complete equality and anonymity. She shows no deference to famous men, no fear of important names, and no interest in politics beyond what can be smelled, heard, and understood in the tone of a human voice.

The people in this story were real. Thomas Jefferson, James Dinsmore, Meriwether, and many others belonged to the world of Monticello and Albemarle County. The correspondence, the setting, and the central historical mystery are grounded in the record. Even Millau is not entirely impossible. Her mother, Clermont, existed at Monticello, one of the dogs from the breeding line Jefferson maintained. Millau could have existed.

Then there is the bell itself. Rediscovered during the courthouse renovation, its date remains clear: 1809, cast into the metal more than two centuries ago. Written history may be quiet on the question of why it was made and placed there, but silence is not the same as absence.

Part historical fiction, part local legend, and part dog story, The Dog from Monticello fills a gap in the record with a tall tale that may or may not be fiction.

After all, no one should doubt the oral history of a dog from Monticello.