The book is narrated by a dead female veterinarian. Her husband is an attorney left to deal with the animals on his own. He gets involved helping her college roommate after she loses her grant and the chimp that she's raised since birth. She has taught the chimp sign language and the chimp can express thoughts through language. He also hires a housekeeper with an autistic son who can speak with departed pets.

Unsaid: A Novel: Neil Abramson: 9781599954097: Amazon.com: Books

Book Description
Publication Date: June 5, 2012

In this explosive debut novel, Neil Abramson explores the beauty and redemptive power of human-animal relationships and the true meaning of communication in all of its diverse forms.

As a veterinarian, Helena was required to choose when to end the lives of the terminally ill animals in her care. Now that she has died, she is afraid to face them and finally admit to herself that her thirty-seven years of life were meaningless, error-ridden, and forgettable. So Helena lingers, a silent observer haunted by the life she left behind-her shattered attorney husband, David; her houseful of damaged but beloved animals; and her final project, Cindy, a chimpanzee trained to use sign language who may be able to unlock the mysteries of animal communication and consciousness.

When Cindy is scheduled for a research experiment that will undoubtedly take her life, David must call upon everything he has learned from Helena to save her. In the explosive courtroom drama that follows, all the threads of Helena's life entwine and tear as Helena and David confront their mistakes, grief, and loss and discover what it really means to be human.