A novel about the 20th century's greatest animal sculptor - a sensitive artist destroyed by the cruelties of the First World War.

A novel taking as its main character the great twentieth century animal sculptor Rembrandt Bugatti, who killed himself after the execution of all animals in the Paris and Antwerp zoos (the places that contained his favourite subjects) during the First World War.

A curious book, part biography, part novel ... Michael F. Moore's ripple translation from the Italian conveys the odd blend of detachment and detail ... Bugatti's sculptures, his deer, flamingoes and giraffes, stalk across the first page of every chapter, and the man himself is brought back, some wise, to life' TLS.