Having chronicled our fascination with rare plants in The Orchid Thief, Susan Orlean turns her attention here to animal-human relationships. In Iceland, the world's most famous whale resists the efforts to set him free; in Morocco, the world's hardest-working donkeys find respite at a special clinic; and in New Jersey, Orlean meets a woman who has 23 pet tigers—something none of her neighbors knew about until one of the big cats escaped.

"Original, perceptive, and clever…. Readers will continue to think about these dogs and donkeys, tigers and lions, chickens and pigeons long after we close the book's covers."—Sy Montgomery, Boston Globe