When David Diebold and his family said goodbye to their beloved dog, Molly, in 2019, they were left with a Molly-shaped hole in their lives.

In The Tao of Molly, a beautifully illustrated and wickedly funny little book that looks like a children’s story but probably shouldn’t be, Diebold turns heartbreak into humour, offering ten life lessons learned from one not-always-best-behaved dog.

Each lesson — from “Find the last patch of sunlight and roll in it, even if it’s in the middle of someone else’s flowers” to “Seize the moment, your butt isn’t going to lick itself” — is paired with a tender, pen and watercolour illustration of Molly in action by Skerries artist Aisling Leneghan (The Littlest Leneghan).