The Zoo

Christopher Wilson

Patrick deWitt meets Catch 22, when a guileless young boy gets mixed up in Stalin’s inner circle.

‘A wonderfully inventive and slyly constructed novel, horrifying, horribly funny, and disgracefully entertaining.’ John Banville

2 in stock

£7.99
Format
Paperback
ISBN
9780571334469
Date Published
03.05.2018
Delivery
All orders are sent via Royal Mail and are tracked: choose from standard or premium delivery.
Summary

An Observer and Spectator Book of the Year
Shortlisted for the Historical Writing Association Gold Crown Award

Meet Yuri Zipit.

A boy who’s had a bang on the head in a collision with a Moscow milk truck.

He has a kind face, makes friends easily, and likes to help. People want to tell him their secrets.

Including the Great Leader himself, who takes a shine to Yuri when he employs him for his natural talents.

In his new job, Yuri will witness it all – betrayals, body doubles, buffoonery. Who knew that a man could be in five places at once? That someone could break your nose as a sign of friendship? That people could be disinvented . . .?

The Zoo is a brilliantly cutting satire told through the voice of one incredible boy.

Critic Reviews

The Zoo is exquisite. A biting satire that broke my heart.

Nathan Filer
Critic Reviews

A wonderfully inventive and slyly constructed novel. Horrifying, horribly funny, and disgracefully entertaining.

John Banville
Critic Reviews

So nimble and acute, by turns briskly hilarious and deeply humane … The Vonnegut comparisons are justified.

Stephen Kelman
Critic Reviews

The energy and originality of Christopher Wilson’s imagination is at its most striking in this fascinating novel … so engaging that it’s impossible to put down.

Diana Athill
Critic Reviews

Brilliantly written and resolutely unsentimental. A funny and poignant and wonderful book.

Nicholas Searle
ChristopherWilson

Christopher Wilson is the author of several novels including Gallimauf’s Gospel, Baa, Blueglass, Mischief, Fou, The Wurd, The Ballad of Lee Cotton and Nookie. His work has been translated into several languages, adapted for the stage and twice shortlisted for the Whitbread Fiction Prize. Wilson completed a published PhD on the psychology of humour at LSE, worked widely as a…

Read More
ChristopherWilson
Christopher-Wilson.jpg