Lily Dunn is a British writer of fiction and nonfiction. She is the author of the novel Shadowing the Sun (2008), the memoir Sins of My Father: A Daughter, a Cult, a Wild Unravelling (2022), and her essays have appeared in Granta. She is co-editor, with Zoe Gilbert, of A Wild and Precious Life: A Recovery Anthology (Unbound, 2020). Her latest book is Into Being: The radical craft of memoir and its power to transform (2025). She lives in the UK.

Written by Lily Dunn

A dog with a leash standing on a carved wooden bench in front of a field and bare trees under a cloudy sky.

Dog day blues

We were a new stepfamily, and only the puppy was missing. With Elsa, we lobbed a grenade into the mix

by Lily Dunn