Description
Bewitching... Deserves to be as big as CAPTAIN CORELLI'S MANDOLIN' BIG ISSUE
On a squally winter's afternoon in 1821 Sarah Dyer gives birth to a strange child, something more seal than human. As news of the whiskery infant spreads through Tasmania, incredulous doctors come to peer under Sarah's skirts. The Reverend Mr Kidney suspects a virgin birth, but Mr Sculley, anatomist and man of science, hails it as the antipodean answer to the elusive Dutch Sooterkin.
A joy to its parents and a welcome companion for their son, the pup has surprising and profitable talents. But when a well-dressed stranger arrives bearing a proposal for the infant's future, no one foresees the trouble ahead...
'Gilling's writing is both lush and sparse. He sketches the social structure of Hobart with a few precise strokes.... He is also good with people. Every individual is described in brief yet deft detail. Such skill is satisfying and addictive to read. This is a startling, original novel Maggie O'Farrell, Observer
ISBN: 9780140288117
