Giraffe

Ledgard, J. M.

ISBN 10: 0143059041 ISBN 13: 9780143059042

Publisher: Penguin Group USA, 2006

Synopsis

A novel based on a bizarre, real-life incident that took place in 1975 Czechoslovakia describes the destruction of the world's largest captive herd of giraffes at a zoo in a small Czech town, recounting the story of the giraffes from their capture in Africa to their apparently senseless slaughter by the secret police. A first novel. Simultaneous.

About this title

Review:

"Giraffe is rich, difficult to describe...blade-sharp imagery...Giraffe is important as a work of art. It will probably change your life and if it does it will be for the better" (Todd McEwan Scottish Review of Books)

"Giraffe is a work of obvious passion and great skill" (Alex Gibbons New Statesman)

"An outstanding debut, sparking with ideas and poetic qualities" (Sam Phipps Saturday Herald)

"[P]oetic, multilayered prose...the strangeness of the giraffes' short-lived "migration'' to Czechoslovakia, Ledgard has found an effective symbol for what he calls "the brief communist moment''" (Elena Seymenliyska Daily Telegraph)

"There's plenty to like in Legard's novel: not least the wondrous, and gentle, giraffes" (James Flint Guardian)

From the Publisher:

One of the strangest, most beautiful novels you'll ever read, Giraffe bears comparison with the fiction of Sebald and Kundera

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Group USA
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0143059041
• ISBN 13: 9780143059042
• Binding: Audio CD