FICTION

It is 1899.

Arnstein, a complicated and often misunderstood primatologist leads a scientific expedition to Colombia, where he discovers a previously unknown ape, the first in the New World.

Eager to escape the breakdown of his marriage and to find out more, he takes his daughter Margrete from Panama to the Bolivian rainforests, but she is swept away whilst crossing a river.

In his journey to reclaim his family, Arnstein finds himself in a battle between his desire for recognition in his field and his need to live as part of the natural world.

This stunning novel asks what one family would do to protect a previously unknown and endangered ape from the ruthless exploitation of its Amazonian habitat by rubber barons and loggers, and will appeal to anyone fascinated by the history and ecology of turn-of-the-century South America.