Review of ‘Peggy and Me’ by Miranda Hart

I have a confession to make. I’m not a ‘dog person’ at all. So why did I read a book about a fluffy canine called Peggy? Well, because it’s written by her owner, the comedian Miranda Hart. She could write a book about lizards, sloths, baboons, or indeed dogs, and I would read it, because she’s funny.

Peggy and Me tells the story of how Miranda acquired Peggy and at first thought it was a terrible mistake. However, woman and dog became best friends. The book is essentially a collection of hilarious and embarrassing anecdotes, written in typical oversharing Miranda style (which you’ll know if you’ve seen her on TV or read her previous books) mixed with warm-hearted reflections on how the fluffy little dog helped Miranda’s mental health after a break-up. Miranda examines both the joys and the grimmer aspects of dog ownership. Peggy also apparently wrote some of the book (the text which is in bold) so we get her perspective too. At the time of writing, Peggy is about 11 and still with us. There are some very sweet pencil illustrations by Jenny Meldrum in each chapter.

Generally I enjoyed the book, although it could have done with some more editing to reduce the long paragraphs, repetition and spelling errors. These might be due to the fact that Miranda’s laptop was stolen back in 2013 so she lost her work and had to re-write the whole book. Probably the book was rushed out to the printers when she finally completed it.

In an interlude in the middle of the book, she debates the ‘dogs v. cats’ question… and her answer is dogs. Wrong, Miranda. The correct answer is cats.

First published in 2016 by Hodder & Stoughton.