Shallow Breath is the third novel by best-selling contemporary fiction writer Sara Foster. I feel that this book was meant to be written at this time in our history as it raises many critical issues about animal welfare, not just in Australia, but across the globe.

Shallow Breath is centred around a family trying to repair itself following a terrible tragedy, while each character is trying to move on with their lives. Its also about having to confront the past in order to move on in the present.

The novel has an unusual and slightly complex structure that has been well-thought out by the author. The novel is divided into five parts and each part contains chapters told in the voices of the different characters: Desi, Maya, Pete, Jackson, Rebecca, Kate, Connor, and Charlie.

Shallow Breath explores the plights of several endangered animals and reinforces to the reader why protecting and preserving all of them is incredibly important for our global ecosystem and for future generations. I found it interesting to read about a family of characters who are, mostly all, animal welfare activists.

This made me consider whether I could extend the love and compassion that I feel for my own pets to other species of animals. If human beings accept that domestic animals are intelligent, sentient beings, why is it so hard for us to extend that empathy to animals living in the wild?

Sometimes it takes courageous writers like Sara Foster to remind us that our duty and responsibility as human beings is to protect and preserve not only our natural environment, but also its precious inhabitants.