Pork

In a huge, dark forest somewhere in the north, a round, rather simple hedgehog called Pork emerges from a pile of leaves in the night… and sets in motion this powerful – and unusual – collection of animal stories for adults.

There is mystery and terror in the great woodland, and there is love. It is a world where fear and death and the survival of the fittest are the pitiless underlying themes. Though they are loosely linked, the stories are written to be read as separate tales, usually with a single main character: an ugly, love-lost squirrel, a wantonly savage stoat, a bat, a veteran hare running before the hounds. They are suspense thrillers or romantic interludes, pure adventure narratives, even horror stories; they all draw us deep into the stern forest through the elements we share with the animals – cold and dark, rain and sun, suspicion, loyalty, the need for warmth and the safety of shelter – above all, the feeling that, even in a world where death is inevitable, there is always enough to make life worth living.

The style is clear, straightforward, often very simple, but there is passion as well as knowledge in the book. It brings the wild creates fiercely to life, in a disturbing way, with menace and unease – but vividly, in a literary debut of great imaginative strength.

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