"A fine and clear-eyed book, born out of a mixture of love and alarm"

THE SPECTATOR

“A spiritual and imaginative record of loss and hope. Valuable and captivating.”

RUTH PADEL, author of Tigers in Red Weather

“Fearless - and fearlessly honest. Payton takes us to places most of us would never think or dare to go. ”

JOHN VAILLANT, author of The Golden Spruce

“He brings back to us a thousand stories of mystery and wonder, myriad insights into the nature of this iconic creature, poetic moments of encounter andconcern, all brought together into a moving narrative that reminds us that we are not predominant on this Earth. This is a lesson we would do well to remember.”

WADE DAVIS, Explorer-in-Residence, National Geographic Society and author of The Serpent and the Rainbow