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Every essay is mesmerising in this collection of stories about household pets we dote on, animals we raise to end up as meat on our plates, creatures who could eat us for dinner, and the various tamed and untamed animals we share our planet with. Orlean discovers the delights of keeping chickens and in New Jersey meets a woman who has 23 pet tigers - something none of her neighbours knew about until one escapes. We meet the world's hardest-working donkeys find respite at a special clinic in Morocco, and in Iceland the world's most famous whale resists the efforts to set him free. We meet a show dog and a lost dog and a pigeon who knows exactly how to get home. Delightful and profound, stylish prose and precise research, observant and often howlingly funny, this is soothing storytelling. 256 page paperback, line art.