Every Sunday, Mollie – a miniature dachshund – would attend Mass at Holy Trinity Church in Gosport with her owner, Christine Harris. Mollie had her own kneeler, received the blessing of St Francis from the priest and regarded it as her special duty to welcome newcomers to the church. She was also known to be partial to a quick puff of incense. Her fame spread throughout the town when – in 2008 after her ‘sister’ Sascha died – she took over Sascha’s column in the parish magazine. Written with gusto and an anarchic approach to life, Mollie’s Tailpiece tackled every subject under the sun, from meeting the bishop and processing with the choir, to playing in the snow and riding in the basket on the front of Christine’s bicycle, all with a delightful grasp of the art of the malapropism. This collection of Mollie’s columns perfectly captures her much-missed sense of fun and mischief.
