´A piece of invention as original as any of Tolkien´s or C.S. Lewis´s´ New Statesman ´I have gone to look for a lion.´ In a world where lions have become extinct, the map-maker Jachin-Boaz nevertheless abandons his wife and son to find one, leaving just this note. But his decision has unexpected consequences. He will be pursued by his son, Boaz-Jachin, and by something else: a tawny-skinned, amber-eyed beast from another place and time, a bringer of life and death. ´Magic at work ... Funny as well as beautiful´ Irish Times ´Hoban is unclassifiable, thank goodness. His narrative is so minutely and compellingly realistic that after a time you cease to notice that he has stood reality on its head´ Sunday Times