Dog War — Anthony C. Winkler

A novel of a Jamaican woman's adventures, from an author with “a fine ear for patois and dialogue, and a love of language that makes bawdy jokes crackle” (The New Yorker).
 
“An acclaimed comic novelist in his native Jamaica, Winkler makes a long overdue American debut with this laugh riot. His heroine is Precious Higginson, a Christian Jamaican woman of 47 whose conventional worldview and proud, pious manner make her unintentionally funny. After her husband dies unexpectedly, Precious moves in with her son and his wife, but pudding-loving Precious and her health-nut daughter-in-law quickly turn the house into a war zone. It's off to America then to stay with her daughter, a Miami police officer, and her hairdressing husband, Henry . . . After Henry makes a pass, Precious takes a job as live-in housekeeper at a Fort Lauderdale mansion. There, she cares for a spoiled dog, Riccardo; argues with Riccardo's animal rights zealot owner, Mistress Lucy, who declares Precious ‘speciest' for failing to appreciate it when Riccardo pees on her new shoes . . . Precious learns much about the limits of piety as the indignities mount and her beliefs are challenged in increasingly outrageous ways. Winkler's wit, his ear for dialect and the sublime creation that is Precious add up to one howlingly funny book.” -- Publishers Weekly