Simon, the rescue dog who played a major role in Isabel Klee’s memoir, Dogs, Boys, and Other Things I’ve Cried About, has died, the author revealed on Instagram.
Klee’s book, published in April by Morrow/HarperCollins, is the story of her search for love in New York, where she volunteered as a dog foster, caring for canines in need of forever homes. The book became an instant No. 1 New York Times bestseller.
“Isabel’s first true love, though, was Simon, a fluffy puppy who’d been saved from the meat trade,” Morrow says in its online description the book. “As the highs and lows of her twenties hit Isabel in wave after wave, it was Simon who kept her grounded. Together, Isabel and Simon created a community of dog-lovers and a tight-knit group of friends pursuing their dreams.”
In a video posted last week on Instagram, Klee said that Simon was battling cancer and epilepsy. “We have made the very difficult decision to say goodbye to Simon in the next few days,” she said. “In the past week, Simon has declined very rapidly. Despite all of his medications…he has had many seizures over the past few days. He is so medicated he can hardly walk.”
In another video, Klee paid tribute to Simon at a gathering of his human and canine friends, saying, “When I previously wrote about losing a dog, I said that the grief was a silent sort of suffering, that it was tragically singular, and that it was hard for others to participate in your hurt. That couldn’t be further from the truth for Simon.…It is a heartbreak I will never recover from. But the fact that each person here will remember and miss him alongside us does make it hurt a little bit less.”
The caption on Klee’s post reads, “Rest well, my angel. I can’t want to see you again one day.”
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
