In Conversation: Author Camille Perri

As the weather warms and humans and animals alike take to the streets and parks to get a little sunshine and interact, author, former book editor for Cosmopolitan and Esquire, and former research librarian Camille Perri releases her third novel, Social Animals.

In the book, three worlds and three women - private investigator Val Caruso, nervous and secretive Alex Reed, and athlete-turned-housewife June Kennerson - come together at an affluent dog park in suburban Maryland. Each with something to hide, these women form an unexpected friendship amid intrigue in their (canine) community.

Ahead of next week's release, Words & Money sat down with Perri to talk about what inspired Social Animals, the challenges of building relationships in a post-COVID world, and the similarities between dog parks and libraries.

What was the inspiration for the story?

The novel that would eventually become Social Animals began as an idea I had for a screenplay. I started writing a female buddy comedy about these two women, Val and Alex, who come together to solve a crime. After a while, I decided the screenplay wasn’t working, so I abandoned it but saved the two main characters with plans to use them in a novel. At first, the novel I began writing was very much like the screenplay, centered on these two women. It wasn’t until I got my dog, Pip, and took her to the dog park for the first time that it occurred to me to set the story at a dog park. This was when I created June’s character. From there, the story took on a life of its own.

You have said that before you got your dog, you didn’t consider yourself a dog person. How long did it take after getting your dog Pip did it take for you to make the transformation? What advice might you have for new dog owners?

It is true that I did not want a dog before I got one. My wife really wanted a dog, and I agreed to having one if she took on most of the responsibility for its care. I assumed that, over time, I would become more tolerant of having an animal living in my home, but I did not expect my heart to turn into the goopy mess it did for this silly little dog. Only a few weeks in, I could no longer imagine my life without Pip in it.

I am certainly not qualified to be giving any new dog owners advice, but I will say to anyone who wants a dog but is worried about taking on the responsibility, or the amount of patience needed to properly raise a dog—you may surprise yourself. There is something extremely rewarding about the kind of unconditional love a dog can provide. It’s different than human love and can melt the hardest of hearts. 

All three of the main characters have different types of relationships with their dogs. Do any of them resemble your relationship with Pip?

Val, like me, did not really want a dog when she acquired one, and Cash, like Pip, is a Brussels Griffon. Griffs are said to be a big dog in a little package. They tend to be intelligent, highly spirited, and self-important. They are not the easiest dog for a first-time dog owner. I understood all of this before inviting a Griff into my home, but Val did not—which was a perfect setup for a lot of friction between human and animal. As a writer, I knew I could squeeze a lot of drama and humor from Val and Cash’s personalities clashing, and from a plot standpoint, it’s always a good idea to make your hero’s journey as obstacle laden as possible. So, of course I had to give poor Val the worst behaved dog of the bunch!

Without giving too much away, the book features environmental policy, private investigation, and building a case with the FBI, all of which feature interesting detail. What kind of research did you have to do to write those aspects of the book?

I’m a former reference librarian, so I love doing research, and I did do a lot of it for this novel. I learned a great deal about private investigators, the EPA, corporate crime, and the FBI. There are examples of corruption and environmental malfeasance in this book, which are loosely based on real life instances that I discovered in my reading. I aim for my novels to be fun and fast paced, but there is always something deeper going on at the same time, some little nugget of a sociopolitical issue that’s important to me, that I believe will also be interesting to readers.       

While Social Animals seems to be on the surface (or cover) a book about dogs, it’s more about human nature and human interaction, with all three of the main characters questioning theirs. Do you think humans are a product of our environment or do you think we can change? And, particularly post-COVID, do you think it is harder for humans and animals to make connections/build friendships?

The “nature versus nurture” question was very much on my mind while writing this novel. Why are we the way we are and do we have the capacity to change? I think we are all a combination of our genetics and our environment, and we tend to behave accordingly. I do believe people can change, but not without a great amount of work. Sometimes the universe helps us along by throwing a giant obstacle in our path, as a test, offering us an opportunity for growth. Such is the case for Val, Alex, and June.     

The COVID years had a huge effect on everyone, especially in the realm of “in real life,” person-to-person connection. Something changed over the course of all those Zoom meetings and days working and going to school from home. We began relying on our devices for social contact more than ever—and it seems we never went back again. This has resulted in a lot of isolation and loneliness. You know the saying about muscles—if you don’t use them, you lose them?—I think we all came out of the pandemic a little weaker in terms of human connection and building friendships. On the bright side, there’s a growing awareness around the dangers of feeling lonely and isolated, and people are beginning to make a concerted effort to put down their phones, go outside, and interact with other human beings in the real world.    

Social Animals features a little something for everyone - suburban dog park drama, corporate and political espionage, intrigue, secrecy, tennis, friendship. What do you hope readers take away from the book?

My goal with this book is for people to have a lot of fun reading it. This is not to say there aren’t moments of melancholy in the story, or that its thematic issues aren’t serious. But if I were to catch someone reading the book on a park bench, for example, I would hope the expression on their face was a smile.           

Words & Money focuses on the role of libraries in the industry and society. Libraries are said to reflect their community, do you think that is also true of a dog park? 

I think that is absolutely true of both libraries and dog parks. I’ve long believed, if you’re a stranger in a new town, stepping into the local library is a great way to get an overall feel for the place and the people who live there. Similarly, every dog park has its own vibe and personality, which will mirror the surrounding community.

A lot of the uniqueness comes from the temperaments and dispositions of the individuals who frequent the space, but we also can’t overlook the effect of funding. Like public libraries, a typical public dog park relies on municipal funds—primarily tax revenue—for upkeep and maintenance. So, if the place is in disarray, you might also want to take a look at the quality of the public schools in the area. Another similarity between libraries and dog parks is that they often rely on nonprofit “Friends Groups” to subsidize costs that the municipal budget doesn’t cover. Usually this is through donations and fundraising events. I have some fun with this in the novel. Is there any better way to poke fun at an affluent suburban community than a dog-park fundraiser gone haywire?