Nop's Hope

**A grief-stricken young woman takes to the road, joining the sheepdog trial circuit with her faithful border collie in this moving follow-up novel to Donald McCaig’s modern classic, *Nop’s Trials***

After her husband and daughter are killed in a car accident, Penny Burkeholder leaves her Shenandoah Valley home with her eighteen-month-old border collie, Hope, the only friend she has left in the world. Together, they make their way across the country in a battered pickup, earning money by doing ranch work and competing in sheepdog trials. One dream keeps the grieving young widow going: to compete at the national finals in Wyoming and turn Hope into a winner.

Filled with fascinating detail about sheepdog trials and the uncanny closeness that develops between canine and human team members, *Nop’s Hope* evokes the quiet beauty of the back roads and ranches of the American West and brings to life unforgettable characters, both human and canine, including Hope’s sire, Nop.