Prologue, Chapter 1 Summary

The multi-textured narrative of this complex novel interweaves three related plots. A young doctor investigates the circumstances of her grandfather's mysterious death, recounts what she discovered while researching his childhood in a small town, and passes on stories he himself told her about his encounters, when an adult, with a mysterious "Deathless Man." Throughout all three narrative lines, the work explores the nature of death, death's relationship to the struggle to live, and the relationship between truth, secrets and lies.

"Prologue"

Narrator Natalia recalls, in vivid detail and in present tense, her "earliest memory" - of being taken to the zoo by her grandfather, and passing all the other animals on their way to their primary destination, the tiger's cage (see "Quotes," p. 5). She describes seeing a careless keeper being attacked by a tiger, being helped by bystanders, being let go...