The novel Milk of the Dog deals with key-moments in the life of a family, narrated from the point-of-view of its four members. The plot begins with an accident, suffered by the father, and the resulting struggles of the mother and her two children. The story explores the reality of theory vs. experience in issues like health, illness, education, childhood, medicine and therapy. To support the dissertation, the chapters are interrupted and commented on, in nineteen brief essays. They mirror the fiction by reflecting affinities and contrasts, similarities and differences with the unfolding plot. The essays illuminate mostly secondary aspects, but urgent contemporary questions. In the dialogue between fiction and essay, the author s experiences as a journalist and critic are examined, as well as observations about movies, plays, literature and scientific information. We seek to bring fiction, centered on homeopathic therapy, into juxtaposition with currentday tensions and obstacles.